In Christ: Know It, Live It - 5 (Grace and Peace!?)

As the Apostle Paul does in most of his NT letters, he pronounces BLESSING on the Ephesian believers as a part of his greeting. "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 1:2

Note here:

• He wishes GRACE to them: Grace is God's undeserved favor. It is actually the OPPOSITE of what is deserved. But it is the ONLY way that God relates to us, His children. He NEVER relates to us in the way of works or deserving and merit. It is all of grace, from beginning to end, just like this letter begins with a desire for grace and ENDS with the same, "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible" 6:24. There is nothing we need more in life, day by day and moment by moment, than grace. Grace flows down from the GREATER to the LESSER. We never become a source or fountain of grace in ourselves, even after receiving God's grace for decades.
• He also wishes PEACE to them (and us): Peace, according to Thayer's lexicon, is: "The tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort it is." I like that definition. Peace has to do with confidence that God is in control...for my good...and His glory...in all things...at all times...forever. Peace and contentment are also inseparable companions. If I am not content with my lot at any particular time, it can be traced back to a lack of confidence that God is in control, to the last detail. This letter ALSO begins with peace and ends with a blessing of peace, "Peace be to the brothers..." 6:23. Every day of our lives must begin and end with grace and peace if we are to live in Christ's supply.
• What is the source of this grace and peace? "...From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Note:

-Our Father loves to provide richly and lavishly for us. He provides because He is our Father and we can be confident of His provision because we are part of His family. I don't know about you, but I love the thought of having DEITY as my FAMILY! Wow!

-Equally the source of grace and peace is our Lord Jesus Christ (telling us of HIS deity, as well). He is supreme ruler of all. He is God, Man, Savior. He CAN provide - He is Lord. He WANTS to provide - He is the Christ, whose coming was to serve and not be served (Mark 10:45).

Now, because the grace and peace we desperately need each day comes to us FROM God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...

• It is ASSURED. The Father and Son are omnipotent deity. There has never nor can be depletion of His supply of grace and peace.
• It is CONSTANT. No need for the Father or Son to take a refueling or recharging break. The supply is infinite and therefore never stops flowing.
• It comes to us via RELATIONSHIP. Because grace and peace comes to us from the Father and Son, we learn it comes THROUGH RELATIONSHIP. I.e. as we relate to them, as we walk in faith and obedience to them. If my relationship with the Father and Son is not right through sin or unbelief, the flow of grace and peace to my life will be hindered. This calls for REPENTANCE: confessing my sin, turning from it, asking for grace to overcome, and once again accepting His full forgiveness and trusting Him for a full, unhindered flow of grace and peace once again.

May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give grace and peace to you as you walk with them in faith and obedience.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 4 (Dual-Citizen Saints)

Paul's very purposeful greeting in the Ephesian letter yields some surprising riches for understanding and application. He is an apostle...he has the God-given authority to speak Christ's message for Christ. We are in the long line of authorized messengers for Christ, as well. Let us speak HIS message, the gospel of life, with authority and not apology.

We are SAINTS, holy ones set apart to belong to God in Christ. God calling us and considering us saints is rooted in Christ and is a statement of our STANDING before God. We are FULLY and COMPLETELY SAINTS before God in standing who are BECOMING SAINTLY in our character and daily WALK.

As we look further into this inspired greeting, note also:

• Paul addresses these as the "saints who are IN EPHESUS..." 1:1. That is, they live somewhere. They have been given saint status by God in Christ, and that status is a statement of their citizenship in HEAVEN. They are now first and foremost GOD's PEOPLE (see Philippians 3:20). But...they are not in heaven yet. For now they live in Ephesus. I live in St Cloud, MN. I am a citizen of the U.S., of Minnesota, and of my city. I have responsibilities and rights as a citizen. Ephesian citizens had rights as citizens of the Roman Empire. They had a right to trial. They could vote. They could make legal contracts...etc. As a U.S. citizen I also have a right to trial when accused of any crime. I can vote in our local, state, and national elections. On the other hand I have the responsibility to pay taxes and to obey the law. I am a citizen of HEAVEN and of EARTH. How do I live out this dual-citizenship? Here are a few thoughts:

-My HEAVENLY citizenship is to control and give direction to my EARTHLY citizenship. See Philippians 3:20. My heavenly mindedness is to cause me to increasingly live the life of heaven on earth. Citizens of Heaven will not withdraw from life in this world. They will wade into the here and now. They will show the character of Heaven's citizen: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. as they interact with neighbors, vote, work at their job, and buy groceries. They will literally flavor earth with the scent of heaven.

-My EARTHLY citizenship should always be lived with an eye on heaven. Again, see Philippians 3:20. We live immersed into life here but we do it with one eye on the sky, so to speak. We live waiting...for our King...who will transform us into full, forever citizens of the new heaven and new earth.

-Living as a citizen of HEAVEN here on EARTH will yield REWARDS for eternity that cannot be lost in a downturn of the market. Nothing done because we are God's people will be without reward. Paul writes so clearly and helpfully in another place,

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5:10

If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you are a citizen of Heaven and you are a citizen of earth. I am a SAINT in Saint Cloud, MN. I don't always SEE clearly how to live out this dual-citizenship. But I am helped by realizing that Jesus my King is ultimate Ruler (Jesus Rules!) and that His rule extends to every nook and cranny of earth. If I walk in submission and obedience to Him, I will be ok. I will flavor earth with the foreign but life-giving scent of Heaven, and I will be a model citizen in the original and true intent of the word.

In Christ: Know It, Live It - 3 (Authority to Speak, Saints in Standing)

Who would ever expect to hear someone say, "The greeting of your letter changed my life!"? The normal greeting of my letters, cards, or emails goes something like, "Dear Fred..." That's it. Fred remains unchanged by my eloquence. But in the first century, greetings were more meaningful and not only identified WHO the letter was written from and to, but often said something important about the recipient's identity as well as the writer's wishes for them or blessing on them.

Paul's greeting in Ephesians says,

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus; grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesus 1:1-2

Think about this greeting. Note that:

• Paul first identifies himself. He is "an apostle of Christ Jesus." In writing this he is making known his AUTHORITY to be writing this letter. An apostle, in the sense Paul was one, was someone personally commissioned by Christ, who had seen Christ, and was given authority to speak for Christ as His personal representative. As an apostle, Paul's message was CHRIST's message, not his own. But he DID have authority to speak in Jesus' name...and to write. SO DO WE. We are not apostles like Paul, but we ARE officially commissioned spokesman for the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:19-20 is Christ's authoritative commission for disciples to make worldwide disciples "to the end of the age." We have not reached that time parameter yet. The commission was therefore not only for the original 12, but for all the disciples who would follow, including you and me. Therefore, we have authority, permission from Christ to speak for Him. We do not need an invitation from the people in our lives to share the saving gospel with them. We have the right to do so because Jesus, who has ALL AUTHORITY in heaven and on earth has commanded us to do so. We must do so with sensitivity and genuine love, but the right to speak has been granted to us from Jesus. So...let's speak. Let's write. Let's email. Let's text message. It is a matter of obedience.
• Note also what Paul says about these believers: they are SAINTS. Where I live it seems every other town begins with "Saint." I live in Saint Cloud. Next to us is Saint Joseph. Down the road is Saint Anna, Saint Rosa, and Saint Wendell. Recently the newspaper announced that a Catholic priest who served lepers in Hawaii many years ago was about to take another step towards becoming a saint in the Catholic Church. Testimonies of miracles in answer to prayers addressed to him were the criterion for his advancement towards sainthood. But when Paul calls the believers in Ephesus "saints," is this what he meant? Surely NOT. SAINT means "holy ones," those SET APART from the world to belong exclusively to God. ALL BELIEVERS are SAINTS. Thus the plural here. Check out many other NT occurrences (e.g. Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2). Calling all believers saints reflects their STANDING before God. That is, through faith in Christ, they have been given a perfect standing of righteousness before God. Saints is not their WALK, but their STANDING. They are saints FIRST, then they become more and more SAINTLY day by day until Christ returns and makes them perfectly holy in standing and walk. Are you aware of your sainthood in Christ? Are you aware of your brothers and sister's sainthood in Christ? We need to be careful both how we VIEW one another and how we TREAT one another. GOD has called us saints.

We'll look more at this inspired greeting in our next blog. For now, perhaps we might work on taking our letters and cards and emails back in time and make our greetings more truth-saturated. Maybe my next email to Fred might just be used of the Spirit to grab his heart and point Him towards the Lord Jesus. "Saint Fred, how in the world are you?" And let's not spend the next 10 years waiting for our friends and family to INVITE us to share the gospel with them. Christ has already COMMANDED it!

In Christ - Know It, Live It - 2 (Knowing Comes Before Living)

The first three chapters of Ephesians focus on KNOWING what it means to be in Christ. The Apostle Paul begins the letter with a burst of PRAISE in 1:3-14 for the spiritual blessings believers have been blessed with in Christ. Then, in 1:15-23 he launches into PRAYER that these same believers will KNOW God as the God who blesses them with hope, as being His treasured inheritance, and as the God of immeasurably great power towards them. Chapter 2 then looks at WHO we were before Christ: spiritually dead Satan-followers facing God's wrath (who have been saved by the loving grace of God) 2:1-10, and aliens to God's people without hope and without God, (who have been brought into the family by the blood of Christ), 2:11-22. In Chapter 3, Paul begins to pray again, but is sidetracked by the wonder and an explanation of how he came to have the privilege of proclaiming the mystery of the gospel to Gentiles, 3:2-13. He finally returns to finish his prayer, one of the most lofty and amazing of all biblical prayers, that we will have power by the Holy Spirit to know the love of Christ that has made all these blessings possible, 3:1,14-21.

The second three chapters of Ephesians (4-6) are all about HOW we are to live out this blessed life in Christ which God the Father has called us to. This simple division of the letter, this doctrine and then duty, this wealth and then walk, this KNOW and then LIVE, teaches us several important lessons:

• Knowing DOES come before Living. To live in a manner that is appropriate to our calling in Christ, we must first KNOW what it means to be in Christ. If we try to live without instruction in who we are in Christ, we will simply live OUR WAY, and not God's. And...our living will NOT honor God or be in a "worthy manner" 4:1.
• But even knowing who we are in Christ does not automatically or intuitively lead us to living correctly, in a God-pleasing way. We must be INSTRUCTED by God in the practical living, as well. We need the WORD to instruct us in every area of our lives. And therefore, we need to give ourselves to study and meditation in the Word so we know how to walk out our spiritual wealth.

And so, in Chapters 4-6 Paul gives practical instruction in:

• How to live in UNITY in the Church, 4:1-16
• How to CHANGE from what we were to what God has called us to be. There is a biblical process of change given in 4:17-32.
• How to live in love and purity and wisdom so that we properly imitate our Father, 5:1-20
• How we live as God's people in our relationships: marriage, family, work, 5:21-6:9
• How we fight the spiritual battles that are part of belonging to Christ and the church, 6:10-20

But to live this way we need this specific, practical BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION. We are not on our own to determine the best way to live...God has laid down His commands and principles for life for us. Therefore, once again, let us give ourselves to the Word in every area of our lives, knowing that our Father, who by grace has saved us from wrath, in grace ALSO has given us instructions for saved living.

Ephesians is a wonderful example of this: Know It (1-3), Live It (4-6). May God be gracious to us in giving us hearts to be taught in both.

In Christ - Know It, Live It: 1 (Jesus Rules!)

The Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus was written from Rome while Paul was under the house arrest recorded by Luke in Acts 28. It was probably a circular letter, written perhaps to Ephesus primarily but also to the other churches in that area of Asia. Paul had spent as much as 3 years in Ephesus, more than any other local church. You will remember that Paul and his companions encountered severe trouble in Ephesus (Acts 19) as the silver smiths' trade was losing business in the most lucrative area of crafting idols of the goddess Artemis.

The temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, along with the Colossus of Rhodes, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, and the Light House of Alexandria. It was 2x the size of the Parthenon in Athens.

Artemis (or Diana) was considered Queen over the heavenly powers as well as the gods of the underworld. It might well be proper to say that in Ephesus, "Artemis ruled." Perhaps a large portion of life for the citizen of Ephesus was determined by his relationship to Artemis.

Perhaps this also is a major reason that in this letter the Apostle Paul focuses on the ULTIMATE power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For example:

• God "raised him (Christ) from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things under his feet..." 1:20-22

For the believer, being IN CHRIST means to be vitally and really and spiritually connected to the ONE who RULES over all powers in all places at all times..."Jesus Rules!" Christianity is indeed a POWER RELIGION. The One who has "all authority in heaven and on earth" Matthew 28:18, has commissioned us to partner with Him in His eternal work of making disciples, and He has promised to be with us in personal authority and POWER to accomplish it.

Of whom, then, shall we be afraid? Shall we not get on with it? JESUS RULES!

Hope for Later Life Through Moses

If you share with me the sorrow that your life has not counted for Christ and His Kingdom as it should have, and you are in the last half or last third of your life, I invite you to gain HOPE through the life of Moses.

Here's how:

• Moses spent the first 40 years of his life in Pharoah's palace. He was trained there in the ways and thinking of Egypt. However, it is obvious that God's hand was on him.
• Moses spent the second 40 years of his life in the desert tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro. There faithfulness and the character of a shepherd was worked deeply into his character.
• Moses was called to serve God by going back to Egypt in the third and FINAL 40 years of his life. During this long and trying time Moses was described as being "faithful in all God's house" Hebrews 3:2. He was "faithful as a servant in all God's house" (3:5).

So...I have adopted Moses as my solely human example of faithfulness and impact for God in later life. He was not without failure. I won't be either. But the final and overarching description of his life was "faithful." And isn't that what we want to hear Jesus say to us someday? "Well done, good and faithful servant." I want to live for those words.

I pray most mornings that God would make me like Moses, faithful in all God's house in the last 1/3 of my life (if the Lord lets me live!).

However, I never want to forget that there is One greater than Moses in my life, and He is faithful as a Son of God over God's House, of which I am a part. His faithfulness in watching and empowering and praying for me will enable me to finish like a faithful Moses (Hebrews 3:6).

My friends, let us cry to God to make us like Moses...and Jesus.

Biblical Thoughts on Elections, Leaders, and Believers

Praise God that His word has much to say about the place of leaders and how God’s people should respond to leaders. Below are a few thoughts based on Scripture for us to consider on this side of November 4th:

--All authority is from God: Romans 13:1f
No one rules except the Sovereign, Almighty God puts them there. He sets up rulers and He takes them down. Therefore, our attitude towards them is in reality our attitude towards God.

--God’s purposes for the world, His people, and YOU cannot be defeated by even the worst of rulers. God will accomplish His plan through good rulers and in spite of evil rulers, but His purposes are NEVER accomplished PRIMARILY BECAUSE of rulers. To put our trust in good rulers or to sink into despair because of evil rulers are both expressions of unbelief in the absolute goodness and sovereignty of God. The gospel will go forth. The Great Commission will be accomplished (Matthew 16:18; 28:18-20).

--Regardless of who is elected, from presidents to judges to city councils, the foundation of the true believer in Christ remains UNCHANGED. “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalm 11:4). God still reigns above the Electoral College and the news coverage, the “winners” and the “losers.” Shifts of earthly power do not cause the slightest ripple in the Power Above.

--No matter whom our leaders are, our calling in Christ is the same. We are to seek to glorify Him in all things while we pursue holiness, seek the lost, and build up the church.

With this in mind, remember…


…God has made His will clear regarding how we are to respond to our rulers: godly or ungodly:

--We are to PRAY for them. See I Timothy 2:1-4. This is not just a “mention” that my heart is not behind. The NT instructs us to pray strong prayers of intercession AND crying out and thanksgiving for all men, including and even highlighting “kings and all who are in high positions” (v.2). We are to pray that our rulers will rule in a way that allows us to pursue godliness and evangelism (v.2-4). Who knows how God, who directs the hearts of rulers (Proverbs 21:1), will work in the heart of our rulers as we pray earnestly for them. Who knows how God might use a MINORITY of good rulers in an unusually mighty way because of our faithful prayers. Remember, it is “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

--We are to SUBMIT to them and OBEY them, as unto the Lord. See Titus 3:1-2. From speed limits to parking regulations to taxes, from copyright laws to DNR regulations to library fines, we are to joyfully and carefully obey. In this joyful and careful obedience there is a powerful witness for the gospel.

--We are to HONOR and RESPECT our rulers. This includes NEVER speaking evil of them (Titus 3:2). Speaking as if we know our ruler’s motives for decisions and actions is to act the part of God, who alone knows men’s hearts. This does NOT mean that we should approve or agree with decisions or reasoning that is unbiblical. We can disagree and even show the error of decisions without slandering. I am amazed at the tenacity and perseverance of those who run for public office. They are often brilliant, gifted in speech, and have very deep convictions. These are all things that can and should be commended, even if they are vehicles for values that are unbiblical.

Remember, the WRATH of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God (James 1:20). Not the wrath of rulers, not the wrath of CHRISTIANS.

Let us cry to God that He would give us hearts of love and compassion that will sincerely support ALL our leaders in prayer, obedience, and respect WHILE we seek to glorify God, win the lost, and build up the church.

AND…keep praying for and working towards and voting for the election of godly individuals on all levels of society.