Starting to Unpack

Picture from Rick and Linda Reed

Today I read Ephesians 4:7-16.  My mind is bouncing all over the place - it's a rather wild Scripture!
On first read through these are the things that caught my attention and it may take a few forays into these verses to unpack them:

• In NIV Verse 7 speaks about "grace has been given as Christ apportioned it". Amplified says that grace was given to each of us "indiscriminately, but in different ways".  NKJ puts it this way: "to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift".  Apparently this isn't talking about the grace of salvation, yet, it is a grace that every Believer is given and in different "measures" or ways.  Sounds to me like God treats each of us differently; has different plans for each of us.  Isn't that interesting?!
• Verses 8 & 9 are real mind blowers. As is often the case, Paul is quoting out of the Old Testament.  This time it's from Psalm 68:18. When I read that specific verse in context it talks about God's sanctuary and Him going "on high" -I'm assuming this is heaven, but it could be speaking of His sanctuary on earth.  The one on earth could mean during the millennial Kingdom; sometimes in Scripture you'll see this has happened, is happening, and will happen in the future, all at once kind of reference. Add to that the fact that it's using this Psalms reference in Ephesians and saying that "He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to man" (NKJ).  What does that even mean?  Who are the captives that he ascended on high to take captive and how does this relate to gifts He's giving to man?  Then, this Old Testament reference is connected to the idea of Him ascended but also descended.  It would seen that the ascended would mean to Heaven but I'm unclear if the descended part means coming to earth or somewhere else; Hell maybe? NIV puts it: "descended to the lower regions", NKJ says: "first descended into the lower parts of earth",  NET comes out and says "he also descended into the lower regions, namely, the earth".  There's the fact that Paul is juxtaposing that Jesus ascended on high with the fact that He was in the lower regions - why is that significant?  What's he saying?
• In verse 10 I see this proclamation that Jesus did the ascending and descending so that He might, as Amplified puts it, "that He [His presence] might fill all things [that is, the whole universe]". What does it mean that His presence fills all things?  What is the impact and practical implications of that? How, or does, His sacrificial death on the cross relate to this? What does this all mean to me, today?
• Verse 7 lays the groundwork for verses 11 & 12 which refer pack to this concept of God "apportioning" something to His followers. In these verses I read that He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  Does this mean that every follower of Christ is one of these?  Do all other ways of relating and building up Christ's Church relate to one of these?  I've heard so much said about this but I want to dig into this with fresh new eyes and hear from God.
• In verse 13 I see the reason for the giving of these gifts - unity and knowledge of Christ in the body and working with Christ's followers until they are mature, "attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (NIV).  What does the "whole measure" mean verses the partial measure?  What's the "fullness of Christ"?  What do these things look like?Verse 14 sheds some light on what it means to have fullness, when we have it we aren't infants any more.  Infants are described as those who are easily persuaded by people who are not teaching God's truth.  There's the implication that there are people with untrue teaching that are trying to lead people astray.  The verse speaks of infants who are "tossed back and forth" (NIV) by these false teachings. This theme of false teaching is one that is seen repeatedly in the Epistles, so I assume it's a point God really wants me to get.
• Verse 15 contrasts the immature follower with the mature one.  Again I see this description about the mature one being "like Christ in everything"(The Message). Verse 15 also describes the mature one as someone who speaks" the truth in love" (NIV).  What does speaking the truth in love look like?  Social media is a whole world of alleged truth speakers, but what about the love?  Can we have a good cause or belief but mess it all up by not having the love?  I find myself thinking about 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 where it talks about great things we can do-speak in heavenly languages, have incredible faith that makes things happen, give to the poor, endure great physical hardship-and says they are worthless without love.  What does this say about the value of love - is love truly greater than everything else?  Is love the foundation? What is this love?
• Verse 16 brings out these gifts again and indicates that they are for building up the body of Christ, His followers. The Message puts this verse this way: "We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love." What does Christ being the source of everything I do look like?  How does His blood flow through me - what does that mean? This verse puts such an emphasis on the connectedness of Christ's followers.Do I have a deep level of connectedness with other Believers?  How can I achieve that?

I have off work for the next 4 days, thanks to a weekend followed by a Monday and then a Tuesday Holiday I'm able to use 1 vacation day on Monday and get 4 days off in a row. So I'm looking forward to taking some time each day to take a bullet point at a time and go over that.  Today I'm going to need to stop but I just want to take a moment and thank God.

Oh Father, I thank You that You've given me Your written Word.  Thank You that You, the great and awesome God, would ever want to speak to me. Thank You for being so interesting.  Thank You that Your Word is alive and valuable and that Your Holy Spirit speaks to me through it.  Thank You that You stimulate my mind to question and seek and come into more of Your truth.  Oh Holy Spirit, be my teacher.  As I look into what others say and let their thoughts stimulate my own, please help me to always see what You want me to see.  As I leave this time with You right now, I have so much more to get out of these verses, but Holy Spirit please empower me to love.  I'm at home today and I think I'll just be hanging out with John.  Help me be a loving wife and friend to him today.  It doesn't do me any good to look into Your Word if I'm a complainer or difficult person when I walk away.  May the words I speak today be ones of gratefulness, encouragement, and truth.  Thank You God for Your love.

The gospel is for everyone

Photo from The Gospel for Believers

What strikes me today as I read Ephesians 3:1-13 is that the gospel is for everybody.  In this passage Paul spends a lot of time alluding to the fact that God created the Jewish nation to be His people, but Jesus came to save everybody.  Those who are the knowledgeable, "churched", people and those who aren't.

This has become real for me in a new way since I started volunteering with Prison Fellowship Ministry (PFM).  In one sense, prisoners are bad people.  They are people who have done bad things, they have victimized other people.  It is much easier on one level to be sympathetic toward the victims than the victimizer.  I've long said that I'd rather be a prosecuting attorney than a defense attorney because the district attorney's office stands up for the people, the victims of crime.

Along with 2 other ladies I currently teach a class on job seeking and keeping as part of PFM's academy. We teach in a medium level prison called CRC.  Our class is comprised of young men who are part of CRC's youth offender program.  CRC has pulled inmates ages 18-25 away from the rest of the population for part of their prison time.  They are housed together and have optional classes together.  Just a couple of weeks ago during class we were discussing that the largest percentage of jobs are obtained through knowing someone.  One of the young men in the class related a story about how he was once working a temp job with 2 others.  He said that he outworked the 2 others by far, but that the 2 other people ended up being offered permanent work for that company while his job ended.  He explained that the other 2 had family members or friends who worked there.  He said that he got really angry about it and thought to himself that he should go rob all of those people.  I remember being shocked when he said that.  I thought to myself - who thinks something like that when they're upset?

Yet, somehow, when I'm there with those young men, I am filled with a sense of how precious they are.  I think it's the Holy Spirit within me; because these young men are precious to God.  The gospel truly is for everyone because God loves everyone.  He doesn't look at people the way that we do.

During these weeks that we've had class together I've come to know some of the young men and their stories.  My heart breaks as they casually mention things about their childhoods that were terrible. Moms who were drug addicts, chaotic households, dads in and out of prison, generations of gang affiliation...these are standard fare among the incarcerated.  God sees their pain and wants something better for these young men; my prayer is that I am a part of bringing that about.

I want to get in line with God's ways of looking at and loving people.  So what does that mean for me in my everyday life?  Are there people with whom I come in contact that I've written off?  Who I find offensive and/or annoying?  The gospel is for them too!  How can really believing this change the way I interact with and talk about these people?

Oh Father, thank You for Your love.  Thank You for extending your salvation to me and everyone else.  Show me ways each day to love the people around me.  Please help me be open to hearing Your voice when I'm around people who I don't like and who annoy me.  Empower me to change my attitude.  May I love people like You do.

Glorifying of the adopting grace

Photo from Living Grace Fellowship

I'm still thinking about Ephesians 1:4-6.  

God loves all humanity so much that He made us the focus of His love.  God loves me so much that I am the focus of His love.

What affect does, or should, that have on me?

I read a compelling post on this very topic by John Piper over at Desiring God. I want to look at 3 quotes from that post here:

"I think, if you said to the average American student that “being loved” is not an experience that terminates on you, they would look at you with perplexity and wonder: Where else would it terminate? I’m the one being loved. How could it not finally be about me? That’s why it feels so good — someone finally took notice of me. Cared for me. Valued me. And that sense is so strong and so natural and so obvious to most people that the thought that there might be a better way to be loved, a more satisfying way to be loved, a stronger way, is simply inconceivable."

"God loved us in eternity before we were created, and he planned to make us his children by adoption. And the aim of this love was “the praise of the glory of his grace.” He loved us this way that we might praise his grace. The ultimate aim of our adoption is the glorifying of adopting grace. A regenerate person loves to praise God’s grace in our adoption. A nominal Christian simply loves the natural benefits of adoption."

"The final decisive question is: Why does God, who loves us so much, and who makes much of us so extremely, remind us again and again that he does all this for his own glory? Why does God remind us over and over that he makes much of us in a way that is designed ultimately to make much of him?
The answer is this: Loving us this way is a greater love. God’s love for us, that makes much of us for his glory, is a greater love than if he ended by making us our greatest treasure, rather than himself. Making himself our end is a greater love than making us his end. The reason this is greater love is that self, no matter how glorified by God (Romans 8:30), will never satisfy a heart that is made for God. God loves you infinitely. He sent his Son to die that he might have you, and that you might have him (1 Peter 3:18). He will not let you settle for wonderful and happy thoughts of self. Not even a saved, glorified self. He will not let your glory, which he himself creates and delights in, replace his glory as your supreme treasure. That would not be love."


2 Corinthians 5:14 notes that: For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (NIV)

Roy Allen notes that this word compel "means to powerfully urge along a line of conduct. Force is not involved, but some impulse is so great that it evokes a strong intellectual and emotional inclination to respond appropriately. In this case, the impulse is the love of Christ, which is so immense that it demands a response as complete and radical as His love for us."

So, what does a complete and radical response to this great love look like?

 Matthew 22:34-40 records when a lawyer asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment and was told that the first is for us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is for us to love our neighbor like ourselves.


Jason Rouchie makes the point that "From the heart “flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23), and without one’s will, desires, passions, affections, perceptions, and thoughts rightly aligned, the life of love is impossible"

How do I align my will, desires, passions, affections, perceptions, and thoughts?

The only way I know if through prayer, reading the Word, and gratitude. By taking time each day to bare my heart before the Lord, to be quiet, and lean in to Him.  By reading His Word and thinking about it.  When I watch a movie, scenes from it will play over in my mind.  When I become entrenched in the Word, it changes the way I think.  Living a life a gratitude causes me to look at things differently.  Gratitude causes me to be on the look out for ways God is blessing me each day and to express my appreciation.

Loving people rides on the heels of loving God because God loves people.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 tell me that I am to have a ministry of reconciliation.  To reconcile means to win over to friendliness, to bring into agreement or harmony, to restore.  

I adore the way Peterson paraphrases some of the word in Philippians 4:4-5 by saying that we're to Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them.

These are the kinds of activities my life should be about. As I'm thinking of this some very specific life situations come to my mind:

• My medical director at work who's always trying to pull me into his alliances against other doctors or my DON.  I need to stop speaking poorly about him.  I need to speak words to him of ways we can work together.
• I need to not get upset at my husband when he does little things that I find irritating.  I need to pray for God's strength in me to over look offenses and work to be strongly united.
• I need to seek to work together with my DON at work and leave the many problems with her integrity, manipulations and lying to God.
• I need to ask the Holy Spirit to make me aware of when I'm getting an attitude toward people or looking down on them. To quicken a desire in me to want everyone's good.

Oh Father, help me be completely Yours.  May my will, desire, passions, affections, perceptions and thoughts be rightly aligned.  Oh Father produce in me the fruit of self discipline.  Help me be able to get up earlier each day so I can spend more than 5 minutes with You.  Help my heart to be stayed on You all day long.  Give me Your love for others.  Give me Your grace that I will get into work together with people instead of alliances against them.  Help me never to enter into the sin of other people but always to love them and show them that I am on their side as a human being.

What does it mean to be the focus of His love?

Photo from Raynie Peavy

I'm still looking at Ephesians 1:3-14.

Today what stands out to me is best represented verses 4-6. I read these verses in 5 different versions, but the way Peterson paraphrases it in The Message delights me most:

Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

God really loves humanity, and me too.

My head knows this but it doesn't really reach my heart every day in every way.  I'm fascinated by the fact that later in this letter Paul prays that the Ephesians would be able to comprehend and experience God's love:

Ephesians 3:17B-18 (NIV)
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Paul obviously thinks it is important that we grasp the immensity of God's love for us.

Why is that? 

Joyce Meyers in an article over at the Christian Post voiced my thoughts on this issue with these words:

"many people don't really know how much He loves them, because if they did, they would act a lot differently than they do"

Somehow I know, deep down in my spirit, that it is understanding God's love in an experiential way that will change the way I live.  I don't think that guilt, fear, or shame will do it.  Only love.

Just last week our pastor spoke about "cheap grace".  He emphasized how God loves us so much and we can not cheapen his love by living in sin.  The pastor was talking about people who accept Christ just to avoid hell and then live as they want. I think part of the problem is the whole hell thing.  I believe that our church has it all wrong.  I don't believe this God Who loves us so much just cuts us off the moment we die and shuts the gates of heaven.  I believe that His love is so great that the gates of heaven are always open.  If we reject him here in this life, then when we're separated from Him after death. But we're still able to come to Him.  That love is so great that the need to focus on being good is gone.

Proverbs 23:7 says that as we think in our hearts so we are.  I believe that when I truly know I am loved, then I will experience the freedom from the bondage of sin.  My response to this great love of God's for me will be to more than gladly live my life as He wants.  My response will be to reach out and seek His Holy Spirit's power within me to change me and give me power over temptation and sin.

Brennan Manning, in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel, shares this account:

"Over a hundred years ago in the Deep South, a phrase so common in our Christian culture today, born again, was seldom or never used. Rather, the phrase used to describe the break though into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ was "I was seized by the power of a great affection". These words described both the initiative of God and explosion within the heart when Jesus, instead of being a face on a holy card with long hair and a robe with many folds, became real, alive and Lord of one's personal and professional life."

I adore that phrase Seized by the power of a great affection. 

May I be seized by the power of His great affection, His love, for me. 

Oh heavenly father, thank You. May Your Holy Spirit in me increase my understanding and experience of Your love for me.  May I be seized by Your great love for me.  May this love change the way I live.  May I be ever constantly shedding selfishness and self centered-ness.  May I see other people as You do.  May my actions toward everyone in my day be those of love.