live2bless

The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV) Notice that the Apostle’s prayer is for us to have power to grasp the immensity of Christ’s love for us. Perhaps our grasp has far more to do with keeping a firm grip on the truth that it is Jesus who has a hold on us. Here’s a few poetic lines well worth memorizing: “Let me no more my comfort draw from my frail hold of thee in this alone rejoice with awe — thy mighty grasp of me!”  John Campbell Shairp (1871)

The Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV) Yesterday we considered the concept of “being rooted and established in love” as essential to being filled with the fulness of God. But in addition to that, the Apostle prays that the Ephesians “may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” This too is clearly vital for being filled with God’s fulness. I think it could be said that the more we experience of the love of Christ for us, the more we will experience the fulness of God in our lives. But experiencing Christ’s love requires power, the power to grasp it. Why is that? I don’t think it’s because it is in some way evasive. The opposite is true. It’s because we are so evasive. That is to say, so easily distracted to where we lose sight of the one reality that — to experience it — is perfect peace and joy. We need power to keep redirecting our thoughts back to how precious we are to Jesus so that he can easily keep on reassuring us that it is so.

In my last podcast I proposed that what we read in Ephesians 3:19 could serve as an answer to the question, what is the supreme purpose of humanity. The answer? To “be filled with all the fullness of God.” Notice that leading up to that the Apostle Paul writes that he’s praying that the Ephesian believers be rooted and established in love. Ephesians 3:17 (NIV) For the sake of clarity, let’s use what I think is an excellent synonym for the greek word here translated “love.” The word is “helpfulness.” In that case the Apostle is praying for them to be rooted and established in helpfulness. What does that look like? I suggest that the idea of being “rooted” in helpfulness means you’re committed to helping everyone you know become everything God created them to be no matter how they treat you or anyone else. In other words, through the power of the Holy Spirit you never allow how anyone treats you to unsettle your commitment to their ultimate spiritual well being, and you treat them accordingly. To be “established” in helpfulness I suggests means that you’ve come to the realization that nothing else matters, that you really have nothing better to do than help others become what God created them to be. It seems the apostle is implying that being rooted and established in helpfulness like that is in a sense essential to experiencing the fulness of God.

I have done a great deal of questioning and thinking regarding just what is the primary purpose for humanity. I came back to a passage in Ephesians that I think could serve as an answer, but before I read it, let’s consider how some long-standing Christian traditions have answered that question. First consider the widely held Westminster Shorter Catechism. It teaches that the supreme purpose of man is to “glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “the primary purpose of humanity is to know, love, and serve God, and to thereby attain eternal happiness with Him” (CCC 1721, 1723). From a Lutheran perspective, “the primary purpose of humanity is to live out one's vocation in faith and service, trusting in God's grace and working for the well-being of others and the advancement of God's kingdom in the world.” (ChatGPT) In Anglican theology we find that “the primary purpose of humanity is to love and worship God, grow in holiness and sanctification, serve others with compassion and justice, and participate in God's mission of reconciliation and redemption in the world.” (ChatGPT) In Eastern Orthodox theology we find that “the primary purpose of humanity is union with God and participation in His divine nature through theosis” that is, “the process of sanctification, whereby humans are transformed by grace into the likeness of Christ.” (ChatGPT) Now here’s what I read in Ephesians 3:19 that I think could serve as an answer: What is the supreme purpose of humanity? To “be filled with all the fullness of God.” Now let’s ask, What gets us to that end? And the answer appears in the preceding verses: The Apostle Paul writes, “And 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

What does it mean to be growing spiritually?  I suggest that it boils down to this: it is to always be outgrowing misconceptions of who we think God is.  The reason I say this is so important is because literally every aspect of our lives mirrors what we actually believe God is like.  Consequently, the more our thoughts of God line up with the truth of who he actually is, the greater our freedom and peace and joy and helpfulness.  So blessed and growing is the person whose personal history “is littered with the debris of discarded misconceptions” of God.

In Roman’s 5:2, we read what strikes me as a peculiar statement, “and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.” In seeking to understand this, let’s first consider the word, “hope”. Biblical hope is hardly what we think of when we hear that word. When we say, “I hope so,” we generally mean that we would like such-n-such to happen but it might not. Biblical hope is having a confident expectation in something that’s absolutely certain to happen. When God says, “this will happen” and you confidently expect it to happen you have what the Bible means by hope. So back to our phrase, the “hope of God’s glory.” It’s a sure thing. We are going to participate in it. That’s why we can already rejoice in it. But in what? What does the apostle mean by “God’s glory”? Perhaps we could define it as the sum of all that makes God so wonderful. And of all the qualities we could list, what I find outstanding beyond words to express is that he treats every aspect of his creation according to the value he’s placed upon it. And when it comes to us as human beings he has given us intrinsic, infinite value. He has made us as valuable to him as the blood of Jesus his Son in that Jesus laying down his life was the price of our redemption. So God always treats us according to this incommensurable value he’s placed upon us and within us. For all time and eternity no one will ever be able to say that God could have treated them even a tiny bit better than he did. No one. And I’m suggesting that that is his glory. And here’s the blessed hope: we are going to be made like that. The moment is coming when we too will treat everyone we meet with the same profound regard for their value to God as God himself does. So truly we can rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.

I don’t know that there is a verse in the Bible more searching in terms of how we see ourselves than this: Romans 2:1 (NET) “You are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.” By way of clarification, the Apostle Paul is referring to the kind of judging that looks down on others as being morally inferior or corrupt. With that in mind, perhaps a paraphrase might help: “You are without excuse, whoever you are, when you look down on someone else. For on whatever grounds you consider someone to be morally compromised, you condemn yourself, because you who look down on someone else’s behavior practice the same things.” What does the apostle mean? He can’t mean that the down-lookers do the exact same behaviors as those they look down on. I suggest he’s highlighting something deeper, that is, that everyone — without exception — has their own way of caving to their own moral weaknesses and frailties. Hence he’s saying, in effect, so you are looking down on someone else’s moral weakness? You had better have a good hard look at yourself and ask, just how am I doing at consistently overcoming my own moral frailties and weaknesses? And if we are going to be brutally honest with ourselves, we know that just as that person who’s behavior we can’t stand is simply caving to his weakness, we are no different because we cave to our weaknesses too. Hence we do the same thing as the very person we’re looking down on.

In yesterday’s podcast I suggested that responsiveness to the work of Jesus is at the heart of spiritual maturity. Why? Because Jesus lived like that in relationship to his Father. Consider the following: In John 5:19-20 (NET) Jesus said, 19 “…I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does.” Notice that this means that the totality of Jesus’ actions were all merely a mimicking response to what God was doing. Perhaps that is why he said, “The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.” (John 12:45) Nothing he did originated with him so anyone could see God in action just by looking at Jesus in action. Hence, the more the totality of our life is merely a mimicking response to Jesus the more it will be so that in seeing us in action others are seeing Jesus in action. That sounds to me like the essence of spiritual maturity.

I want to offer yet another definition of what I think spiritual maturity is all about. It could be defined by how responsive a person is to the work of Jesus by his Spirit as evidenced by how much of a person’s inner and outer life is devoted to God’s friendship and to coworking with him in 24/7 helpfulness. Notice that one of the key words in that statement is the word, “responsive.” Lord willing, tomorrow we’ll focus in on that word. But first, think it through for yourself: Just how do we remain responsive to the work of Jesus?

I’d like to set before you a paraphrase of that well known chapter on love found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. I’m calling it a paraphrase, but actually I’m just replacing the word translated “love” with a word or concept that supplies what I take that biblical word love to mean. As best as I can tell, when we read that “God is love” or read about loving one another, something emotional is not what’s in view. What I think is in view is how we behave towards one another, and to me what we are being called to is embodied in the word “helpful.” So with that in mind I offer the following: 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not allow God’s helpfulness to work through me, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not allow God’s helpfulness to work through me, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not allow God’s helpfulness to work through me, I receive no benefit. 4 God-guided helpfulness is patient, God-guided helpfulness is kind, it is not envious. God-guided helpfulness does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 God-guided helpfulness bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 God’s helpfulness never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and God-guided helpfulness. But the greatest of these is God-guided helpfulness.

Jesus said, “I am the life…” What did he mean by that? For sure he was referring to something far bigger than physical life. It seems to me that the concepts of life and purpose are inseparable. I would go so far as to say that life is purposeful living. If that is so then let’s take it another step and say that purposeful living could be defined by how much of a person’s life expresses spiritual maturity. And I like to define spiritual maturity as God-guided, 24/7 helpfulness. So in saying, “I am the life…” we could take that to mean that Jesus is saying that he is source of all purposeful living — all God-guided helpfulness.

What is a spiritually mature life? I suggest that it is a life of 24/7 helpfulness. I say helpfulness because I can’t think of a better synonym for indicating what the word “love” means in the Bible. Here’s a corresponding question: what is the cutting edge of how that helpfulness manifests? I suggest it is to be so inwardly peaceful, joyful, and free of “here’s what I think!” or thoughts of “what’s here for me?” that upon contact with someone your attention is completely focused on having that person experience something more of how infinitely valuable he or she is to Jesus.

Now and again I bump up against someone who likes to define the Christian life and interpret the Bible in terms of systems. For that matter a great deal of Christian writing focuses one’s attention on developing a system by which one relates to God. What am I referring to? I’m referring to the habit of organizing ideas in the Bible into certain categories. A theological system gathers verses together about God and puts them into headings and subheadings and may refer to them as “The Doctrine of God”. A moral system rallies verses to create a code of conduct and may dub it “Christian Ethics”. And there can be verses that together would make up soteriology or the “Doctrine of Salvation”. And then there’s ecclesiology, the “Doctrine of the Church” and eschatology, the “Doctrine of Death, Judgement, and our Final Destiny” and so on. The early Christian church took many of these doctrines and in a sense condensed them into a concise set of affirmations such as the Nicene Creed. Is there value in this? In organizing the teachings in the Bible into various confessions and categories? I would say so. We do well to be acquainted with what the Bible does teach about these various topics. But I suggest that there is a limit to the value of doing that. My contention is that theological, creedal, or ecclesiastical systems are temporary supports that, like a cast or crutch, help us get moving in spite of a compromised limb. But there comes a point sooner or later when the call comes to quit looking to a system and “walk in the truth” — 1 John 1:3 — and “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees” — Hebrews 12:12. In the words of Jesus to the master systematizers of his day, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39,40) That sounds to me like a call to find out what it means to live in the immediate and constant presence of Jesus with him as our sole interpreter of both the Scriptures and everyday life. The cast or crutch serves a vital role, but only up until his hand takes yours and you’re off!

The words of Jesus in Matthew 12:30 read, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” To safeguard one person’s value to God is to safeguard everyone’s. To violate one person’s value is to violate everyone’s. How so? Perhaps it is because Jesus is at work, the world over, every moment in the depths of every human heart. He is constantly seeking to open every heart to know how valuable it is to God. When I am in agreement with him the balance of power in this world shifts in his favor and everything he is doing gathers momentum. But when I am not in agreement, I scatter that momentum and his work in each heart suffers. So consider that we have at our fingertips endless opportunities to advance the purposes of incommensurable goodness in others with just a thought of blessing, especially a prayer-filled thought or we can just as easily co-op with evil. A prayer is in order: “Jesus, on the cross you were made to be the totality of my sinful self — the nightmare of what I am without you so that in you I might become the righteousness of God. Let this be one more day when, by constantly affirming of the preciousness of others to you, my repentance advances your redeeming power to reverse all the horror I’ve done or that which I failed to protect others from. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 — “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NET) “…Even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” Are you trying to dodge, avoid, reject, change up, or get away from something you find threatening, demanding, distasteful, unpleasant? Let’s refer to whatever that is as a difficulty. The message of the Scriptures seems inescapable: that difficulty was either uniquely ordained for you by Jesus or is subject to his redeeming power to develop in you insights or a perspective that will end up in one way or another profoundly and positively influencing everyone you meet in this world and the next. What you learn by reacting industriously to the difficulty will reveal to others through you something distinctive of Jesus’ perspective or thoughts. It is something of him or from him they can encounter no where else in all creation. And, while in this world, it stands to help soften their hearts to be more receptive to his direct work within them. It is just such an influence that, I’m persuaded, is an eternal, incommensurable weight of glory — a glory that elsewhere the Apostle Paul writes “will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18 NIV)

Romans 1:16-17 (NET) 16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” Regarding the “righteousness of God” mentioned, one scholar points out that that the phrase a righteousness of God is in the subjective genitive, meaning a God kind of righteousness. (Robertson) Just what is this God kind of righteousness? I suggest that it is God always acting according the intrinsic value he gives to each person. He never treats anyone in any way less than what reflects that person’s infinite worth to him. And so with us if we are to be what the Apostle Paul calls “the righteousness of God” in this world. How can this be even remotely possible? — “from faith to faith.” Perhaps we could say that this God kind of righteousness is born of trusting God, is sustained by trusting God, and comes to it’s fullness of expression in our lives only through trusting God. By that I mean, trusting God to open our eyes and keep them open so that we only see others through his eyes. Because the more we see what God sees in people, the more our thoughts, words, and actions, will reflect their preciousness to him. We will indeed become his righteousness in this world.

Romans 1:1-7 (NET) 1 “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. 2 This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh, 4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. 6 You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!” Did you notice the two references to being called in these verses? The first one was that we are “called to belong to Jesus Christ”, the second one, “called to be saints” that is, God’s holy people. I suggest that the first calling gives rise to the second. In other words, the more of us that we acknowledge belongs to Jesus the less vulnerable we will be to temptation. Why? Because temptation is always directed to something we still see ourselves in charge of. But if we truly belong to Jesus as his slave, then — with reference to ourselves — we have no say about how someone else’s “slave” should handle or respond to anything. That’s the master’s business.

I’ve been doing some studying about belonging to Jesus Christ and have been trying to think through just what that means. In the course of it I stumbled across this gem that dates back to the year 1563. I’m referring to the opening question and answer in a catechism drafted in Heidelberg Germany. It seems to me it could easily pass for something every believer would do well to memorize. The question reads: Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own,1 but belong— body and soul, in life and in death—2 to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10 The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) 1 1 Cor. 6:19-20 2 Rom. 14:7-9 3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14 4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2 5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11 6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5 7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18 8 Rom. 8:28 9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14 10 Rom. 8:1-17

This week I’ve been reflecting on a quote I read recently by philosopher Martin Buber. “When I meet a man, I am not concerned about his opinions. I am concerned about the man." ~ Martin Buber That sounds to me a lot like how it is that God looks at us. It’s not our opinions that matter to him, it’s us. It’s who we are. We all walked away from God, and may even be his bitter enemies as far as what it is we tell ourselves God is like. But even so, with all our pathetic opinions of him, he still sent his Son to die for us. I’m seeing there’s something here for me to learn: I plan to become increasingly disinterested in anyone’s opinions in favor of focusing on the person himself so as to be concerned just about who he or she is beyond all opinions.

I just read a remarkable article. A “Kentucky mother of two went to the hospital last month to receive what she figured would be a routine treatment for a kidney stone. Lucinda Mullins, 41, ultimately ended up losing both legs and both arms from the elbows down.” The cause was sepsis. The article goes on to say that “Mullins apparently took the bad news in stride, leaning into her faith and family.” In her words, ”I just said these are the cards I've been dealt, and these are the hands I'm going to play.” Mullins noted that if "one person … can see God from all this, that made it all worth it.” What is it we see? We see God’s sustaining power shining through her unbelievable positive reaction to a horrifying personal disaster — living the rest of her life without hands or feet. None of us knows what’s ahead for us in this year, but of this we can be sure: There are going to come troubles and difficulties we sure wish would never come. So let’s ask the question, what do the people around me stand to learn of God by virtue of how I react to the troubles coming my way? Are my reactions going to magnify his goodness, even so, or make him out to be apathetic or indifferent to our life’s troubles? We can be sure that Lucinda Mullins had this figured out long before her tragedy struck. And we too need to win this battle before it’s ever fought. How so? The key, it seems to me, is to flat out reject each and every thought of discouragement, dissatisfaction, or disappointment. Give such thoughts no place whatsoever in one’s reactions to anything. Then it means to always walk in praise and thanksgiving to God no matter what we are going through, come what may.