THE ROADMAP (4)

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)

Build on the right foundation – Practice what Jesus preached
... and established...

Paul loved to mix metaphors, so we shouldn’t be so surprised that he turns from an agricultural to an architectural picture. The word “established” literally means to have a firm foundation laid.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)

Most of us are pretty familiar with this passage. Jesus gives us an excellent picture of how we can make sure we are building our lives on a firm foundation. I remember when I was a young man and wanted to learn carpentry. I attempted to put up a wall in our basement so I could have my own room. Needless to say I didn't quite lay it out right nor was it plumb. So the wall looked like a snake slithering its self along. That's why it's important to not just think about and meditate on the words of Jesus, but put them into practice. If we really want to build a firm foundation, we have to act on those words. We have to put them into practice so we see them produce spiritual fruit.

If all I ever did was to think about Amy and how to meet her needs, but I never acted on those thoughts, that wouldn’t go very far in establishing a good foundation for our marriage. The same thing is true for us spiritually. If we truly want to experience the love of Christ in our lives, we have to be grounded in Him by practicing what he preached. You are loved!

THE ROADMAP (3)

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)


Put down roots – Meditate on God’s Word
...being rooted...

As has been the case throughout his letter, Paul once again uses passive verbs here. Notice that we have been rooted – we didn’t root ourselves. We have been grounded. We didn’t ground ourselves. Obviously only God can do that. It is God’s work in our lives that provides the means for us to be rooted and grounded. But I’m convinced that Paul would agree that doesn’t mean that we have no role in the process. What we do in our lives can either facilitate or inhibit God’s work of rooting and grounding us in Christ’s love.

When Paul writes of being rooted in Christ’s love, I can’t help but think that he might be reflecting on the picture given by the Psalmist in the very first Psalm:

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

The Psalmist gives us a beautiful picture here of the righteous man who is like a tree planted by streams of water, where the roots can go down deep and provide stability and allow that man to produce fruit in his life season after season. I think we’d all like to be like that man or woman. So how can we develop those deep roots?

The Psalmist indicates that the key to putting down deep roots is to meditate on God’s Word day and night. Unfortunately, because of some of the new age religions, we’ve developed somewhat of an aversion to meditation. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word meditate, I think of someone sitting cross-legged on the floor, chanting some mantra. And frankly I don’t want any part of that, because even if I ever could get in that position in the first place, I’d probably never get up again. I'd be laying on the floor begging my wife to help me up. But meditation as the Psalmist presents is different.

The Hebrew word for meditation comes from a root word that means to speak or utter. Meditation, as used here, means to speak God’s Word to yourself and to speak to yourself about what it means and how to apply it on your life. That act of meditation takes place in the heart, or in the mind. And you’ll notice that the Psalmist wrote that the man who is blessed will delight in meditating on the Word of God day and night.

So if I want to put down deep roots of the love of Christ, the first place I have to start is to delight in His Word to the point that I constantly think about it and how it applies to my life.

Do you remember the first time you fell in love? I do, because I’m still in love with that very same person. And that love that I have for Amy means that I think about her often. When we’re apart, I’m already thinking about when I’ll get to see her again. And because I love her, I think about what I can do make sure that I meet her needs and how I can be the person that she can trust and respect. Although that certainly requires some effort on my part, it is also my delight.

When we fall in love with Jesus, we ought to have that same kind of attitude. We ought to delight in getting to know Him through his Word and thinking about how we can take and apply what we’re learning so that our lives can be pleasing to Him. I think that's all God is asking of us...you are loved!

OUR VEHICLE: (2)

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)

TO EXPERIENTIALLY KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST
That’s why he prays...to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge...

Paul writes that the way we get closer to our destination of spiritual maturity is by grasping the love of Christ. This is one of the places where the NIV translation probably does the best job of conveying the meaning of what Paul is writing. Other translations speak of “understanding” or “comprehending” the love of Christ. But the word that Paul uses here is much stronger than that. He truly is expressing the idea of grasping, of being able to grab and hold onto, the love of Christ.

But there is an interesting paradox here. Paul writes that Christ’s love is wide and long and high and deep and that it is the kind of love that surpasses knowledge. Then he turns around and prays that his readers would be able to know this unknowable love.

The word Paul uses for “know” is a word that means to “know by experience.” Literally here is what Paul is praying for his readers: [I pray for you to] know experientially this love that surpasses the ability to be known experientially.

On one hand that seems impossible. How can we know something that is beyond knowing? But it must be possible or else Paul wouldn’t have prayed for his readers to do that. It seems to me that Paul is emphasizing for us that this kind of knowledge we can’t figure out on our own. Only God can impart that kind of knowledge.

Paul has certainly described the love of Christ in the first three chapters of his letter. He has written about how we have been redeemed from an empty way of life by the work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection. But Paul wants us to realize that we can never know that kind of love just by reading about it. Obviously reading about the love of Christ in His Word is the starting point, but that is inadequate on its own. We have to experience its operation in our lives in order to really know it in the sense Paul is writing about here. And that is the only way that we can move toward our destination.

Experientially knowing the love if Christ is the key to being all that we can be. But how do we do that? Tomorrow Paul gives us a roadmap to our destination that will take you to amazing spiritual places. You are loved!

OUR DESTINATION: (1)

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)

Paul has laid out a very easy to follow roadmap for us to follow. He presents Biblical principles in a very logical order. But this week I’m actually going to start with the end of the passage and work our way toward the beginning. That’s because Paul reveals our destination at the end of the passage and before the roadmap is going to do us any good, we need to know where we’re headed. So let’s begin by identifying our destination:

TO BE SPIRITUALLY MATURE
…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

God’s goal for the lives of His children is that they might experience a life that is filled to the very brim with the fullness of God. In fact, Jesus indicated that was the very purpose for which he came to earth:
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV) In the beginning of this verse Jesus says that if we are not careful, Satan will try to steal, kill, and destroy us so as to take away the fullness that is rightfully ours.  

Colossians 2:9, 10 (NIV) says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” In other words he wants us to use this fullness that’s at our disposal. So he prays that would become spiritually mature.

Let’s say that I want to become a doctor. Right now Amy is back there thinking “not another new career!” If I wanted to do that I’d have to go back to school and take a whole bunch of science classes. Then I’d have to go to medical school and do my residency. And after a number of years of long days and hard work, I would officially be a doctor. And when I got to that point, let’s suppose that one of you here needed open heart surgery. So you came to me and I said, “I’ll be happy to do that for you. I’ve studied how to do that and even assisted on a few surgeries. When do you want to schedule it?”

Even with your bad heart, you’d probably run from my office and go find a doctor with a whole lot more experience wouldn’t you? Why? I would have those same two letters behind my name – M.D. – as any other doctor. I would be just as much of a doctor as any of them. But I certainly wouldn’t consider myself to be “filled to the measure with all the fullness of being a doctor.” It would take many years before I could be all that I could be as a doctor.

I think that’s a pretty good picture of what we’re like spiritually. When we make the decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ, we get all of Jesus we’ll ever get and in Him we get the fullness of God. But we don’t experience the entire impact of that fullness right away. In fact, none of us will be able to know all that fullness in this lifetime here on earth. But as we mature and develop our relationship with God, we are able to experience more and more of that fullness operating in our lives.

Paul is going to address this whole idea of spiritual maturity in much more detail in chapter 4, but look what he says: “to prepare God’s people so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12, 13

What I’d like you to notice is that Paul makes a clear connection between attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ and our spiritual maturity. So the destination that God sets out before us is our spiritual maturity. But this is a different kind of destination, because it is one that I can never reach, at least not while I’m here on earth. That idea is foreign to our natural minds. We would never get in a car or on a plane and start out toward a destination we knew we could never reach. But God has determined that our spiritual journey will never come to a point of completion.

If there was anyone who could have ever completed his spiritual journey here on earth, it had to be Paul, But even Paul, as he approached the end of his life, recognized that he still hadn’t gotten there. And yet, he still kept striving to reach the final destination. He called it running the race to win the prize. We will never arrive, but the more mature we get, the closer we come to being all that God intends for us to be.

And what really breaks my heart is to look around and to see all of the Christians who want to settle for just getting by. They don’t seem to want to do the hard work that is needed to get on the journey toward spiritual maturity. They could have the fullness of God in their life, but they choose to settle for the cheap imitations offered by the world. It’s kind of like sitting in the garage with the engine running, but never leaving the garage to actually go anywhere. If you sit in the garage long enough with your spiritual engine running and the door closed, you generally will die spiritually; because you have chosen spiritual affixation. Choose the fullness of Christ and receive everything form God you can...if you do God will pour into your life a measure of His Holy Spirit that will transform and renew you. The one thing you can be full on in this life...is the fullness that Paul desires us to have. You are Loved...

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR HEART GOD’S HOME (4)

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:14-17a (NIV)

Emphasize the Eternal “in your inner being”
“in your hearts”

This principle is so important that Paul uses two different phrases to describe the idea of developing our inner lives. Both the inner being (literally the “inner man”) and our hearts describe the very center of our being. That includes our personality, thoughts, will and emotions. And it is that part of our lives we need to develop in order for Jesus to come and be at home there.

Amy and I have made a lot of cosmetic changes to our house; what is even more important to the long-term ability for our house to serve as our home are some of the things that are not nearly as visible. If I paint a wall, but the drywall hasn’t been hung properly or the builder used inferior lumber when framing, or even worse, if the foundation is not adequate, that paint job is not going to last. Or I can change out the switch plates and outlet covers all I want, but if there is a problem with the wiring inside the walls, my lights and outlets still won’t work properly.

The same thing is true with our lives. We can spend all the time we want on the outside, but if we don’t take care of the inner man, our hearts, then all the work we do won’t last. So how do we make sure that we develop that inner man? Paul gives us some hints about how we do that in another of his letters:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
Paul makes it quite clear that the way that we are renewed inwardly day by day is to fix our eyes on those unseen things that are eternal rather that the temporary things that we can see. In other words, I need to focus on developing on those things that will last for eternity – my character, my convictions, my thought life, my devotion – rather than those things that will pass away – my body and my material possessions.
I’m not saying, and I don’t think Paul is either, that we are not to take care of our bodies or be good stewards of the material goods God has entrusted us with. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches that we should do both of those things. But he is saying that our main focus should be on developing those parts of our lives that will last for eternity.

Trust in God’s Truth
“through faith”
When Paul writes that Christ dwells in our hearts through faith, the faith that he is describing is much more than just some intellectual belief. In fact, it is even broader than what we normally think of as faith – trusting in Jesus Christ alone as the means of being made right with God. That’s certainly part of faith, but it’s really only a starting point. If we want Jesus to be at home in our hearts, we need to have a much more encompassing kind of faith. James is really helpful in describing that kind of faith:

“But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.” James 2:18, 19 (NIV)
There are some people who will try to claim that James’ writings contradict Paul’s claim that salvation is by faith alone and not a result of our works. But if you read Paul’s letters carefully, you will find that both of them are actually very much on the same page. James is pointing out that real faith will be demonstrated by our actions. As he points out, even the demons have an intellectual belief about God and His Son. And I think we’d all agree that kind of faith is totally inadequate as a basis for our salvation or for making our heart a dwelling for Jesus.

If we want Jesus to come and make Himself at home in our hearts, then we need to have the kind of faith that trusts that as we obey the teachings of Jesus and the leadings of the Holy Spirit, God will accomplish what is the very best for us, even when we can’t see how that can be. Here’s how Jesus put it:

Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23 (NIV)
If we want Jesus to come and make His home with us, then we need to trust him enough to obey His teachings. That means when someone wrongs me, instead of trying to get revenge, I forgive and pray for the other person. It means that when I have the desire to engage in a physical relationship outside of marriage, I refrain from giving into those desires, because I trust that is in my best interest based on the words of Jesus. It means that I don’t worry about my material needs because God has promised to provide them for me.
You are loved...

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR HEART GOD’S HOME (3)

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:14-17a (NIV)

Submit to the Spirit
“through his Spirit”

Everyone of us has probably felt like our little Shaggy looks from time to time in the spirit. Beaten and battered with the cone of shame on. We need Gods Spirit so desperately yet we still try to do things in our own strength. Learning to submit to the Spirit is a learned spiritual trait. The Holy Spirit is the conduit through whom power and spiritual resources flow into our lives.

The Holy Spirit has a number of functions as we’ve already seen in Ephesians that he serves as guarantee of our future inheritance of the riches of God. But one of His other important roles is to point us to Jesus Christ. Just before He went to the cross, Jesus described that role:
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26 (NIV)

The Holy Spirit is the conduit for the riches of God and He us reminds us of the teachings of Jesus and helps us to apply those teachings in our lives. When receive Christ the Holy Spirit comes into us the very moment we become a follower of Jesus Christ. But all of us need the baptism of the spirit for power to live out this life and to receive the gifts that God has for us and to use those gifts we have been created to do.

God did not give us his spirit to:
“grieve the Holy Spirit of God” Ephesians 4:30 (NIV)
“or to put out the Spirit’s fire” 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NIV)

Both these verses make it clear that the Holy Spirit will not force us to respond to the revelation that He wants to bring into our lives.

We can grieve the Holy Spirit and we can quench His work in our lives. Whenever the Holy Spirit leads us and reminds us of the teachings of Jesus, we can either choose to respond by submitting our lives to that work of the Spirit and making the changes we need to make to get our lives; or we can choose to ignore that revelation.

If I want to make my heart God’s home, I need to develop the habit of submitting my life to the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I need to be willing to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in my life even before I know what He will reveal to me. So start trusting His Spirit...you are loved!

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR HEART GOD’S HOME (2)

 

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:14-17a (NIV)


Rely on God’s Riches
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power”

The great thing about preparing our hearts for Christ to take up permanent residence is that we’re not dependent on our own resources. As Paul writes, we have access to the glorious riches of God.

If I had to rely on my own strength and power I know it wouldn't last long. Most days I go to the gym to try and build strength and endurance in my body. I'm running on the elliptical or lifting weights, some days I'm victorious and others I give up short of my goal. For most of us its the same way with our spiritual journey. We go to the spiritual gym and do really well in our relationship with Christ, but then there are times when we give up short of what we know we can should do. This is were we must put our faith into action.

If you believe as I do that God equips us with everything we need to prepare our hearts then the principle in Philippians becomes a tool for us to live by:
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

We are not limited by my our own resources? Everything that God has prepared is at my disposal. Its always there whether we are running strong or have come up short. Just don't give up! You are loved...

HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR HEART GOD’S HOME (1)

We’ve all heard the old adage “Home is where the heart is”. But I think if the Apostle Paul was here with us today, he would probably rearrange the words like this: “Heart is where the home is”

That is the essence of the passage. This is one of my favorite prayers in the bible:
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:14-17a (NIV)

There is some introductory information about this passage that I want to share with you and then I want to focus on the concept of Christ dwelling in our hearts this week.

You’ll remember that Paul began chapter 3 with that very same phrase – “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.” Paul does as he often does and inserts this big parenthesis for the next 12 verses. In those verses he describes how God is carrying out His eternal purpose through the body of believers called the church. And now as we come to verse 14 Paul picks up with the thought that began back in verse 1; “For this Reason.”

Do you ever think about why we pray? We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the sovereignty of God in the first three chapters of Ephesians. It is God who chooses us, God who predestines us to become part of his family, God who redeems us and God who guarantees that we will one day receive the inheritance of all the spiritual blessings that He has promised to us. So it only seems fair to ask, “If God is going to do what He wills anyway, why should I pray?”

I think Paul answers that question with his phrase “for this reason.” It’s interesting to see how the various commentators treat this phrase. Obviously, it refers back to what Paul has written previously in this letter, but what exactly is the reason for which he is praying?

Is it because he is imprisoned and he doesn’t want his readers to be discouraged?

 

 

Is it because of his interest in the welfare of his readers and his desire for them to enter fully into their privileges in Christ?

Is it because of the reconciling work of Jesus that has brought Jews and gentile together in the church and because of Paul’s understanding of this mystery?

But it seems that the immediate context has to do with the fact that God’s children have been gathered together in the church for the purpose of making God’s manifold wisdom evident here on earth and in the heavens.

So Paul is praying because he is confident that God will do the things Paul is praying for in our lives in order to prepare us to be fit vessels to carry out God’s sovereign plan.

“Paul then writes that he bows his knees before the Father.” Paul is not indicating here that we have to bow our knees when we pray. In fact, throughout the Bible we find people praying in various different positions. But the idea of bowing our knees is a picture of submission, reverence and awe.

It pictures a subject coming before the king to bring a request. The point Paul is making here is that when we come before God to pray, we need to come with a right heart. We can come boldly, because our access is based on what Jesus has done for us. But we also need to come with reverence and awe.

Then Paul uses an interesting phrase to describe God. He calls him “the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” Frankly we could spend our whole time just looking at this phrase this morning, but let me just make a couple of quick observations.

First, there seems to be a reference here to creation and the fact that all created beings owe their existence to the Father. But because of the context here in Ephesians, Paul seems to be emphasizing the idea that in the church, we all have the same Father. It doesn’t matter whether we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, black or white, rich or poor. We are all God’s children and God loves all his children equally. He doesn’t play favorites. So when Paul prays, he is praying for all of God’s children, including all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ.

Now turn your focus back on the first part of Paul’s prayer.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Paul’s desire is that Christ would dwell in the hearts of his readers. The word translated “dwell” is an interesting word. In Greek, it means to “settle down and be at home.”

When Amy and I decided to look for a house several years ago, we looked at dozens of houses before we finally settled on a floor plan and location that we liked. Once we decided to buy that house, we had to make a lot of decisions about things like paint colors and everything that goes with making your house yours. Since then we’ve also done a lot of other things to modify our house to make it fit our tastes and our lifestyle. We’ve landscaped the front and backyard, painted some walls, and we are in the process of taking down a kitchen wall to make this more open. We’ve done all that because our plan is to make that house our last home. We’ve finally come to the conclusion as we learned last week, “Age is relative - when you’re over the hill, you just pick up speed.” Obviously, God could change all that, but we look at that house as our permanent residence, so we have invested our resources to make it a place where we can settle down and be at home.

Paul’s prayer for us is that we’d be able to do the same thing spiritually with our hearts that most of us do with our homes - to make it a place where Christ can take up permanent residence.

Even though Jesus comes into my heart at the moment that I commit my life to Him, Paul’s prayer here makes it clear that my life is not quite ready at that point for Jesus to settle down and be at home there. When we accept Christ we embark on this process of having our lives transformed so that we can become more and more like Jesus and to prepare our hearts to be the place where He can come and settle down and be at home.

Let’s look at Paul’s prayer and see if we can’t pick out some practical principles this week that will help us to make sure that our heart is where God’s home is.

You are loved! I'll have to find a new picture...just noticed I was blinking...lol

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SUFFERING (4)

"I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory." Ephesians 3:13 (NIV)

God will Use My Suffering for the Benefit of Others

Paul was not just enduring the suffering he faced for his own benefit. You’ll notice that he writes that he is suffering on behalf of others – in this case those who were reading his letter. This really fits in with the whole theme of Chapter 3 so far. When God calls us to be part of His family, he does that not just for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of the rest of his family.

When Kreg Kenton passed, many of you stood tall and helped a lady who needed help who couldn’t do it herself; even some of you who were hurting yourself went and helped. That’s a pretty good picture of life isn’t it? Often the ones of us who are suffering are doing it for the benefit of others. And they rarely get recognized for their efforts because they aren’t here to get the glory on this earth any way.

Suffering is a Key to Sharing in God’s Glory

I really struggled with the last phrase of our passage. It seems to me that Paul must have meant to write that his sufferings were for God’s glory. But by now, we know that Paul writes what he means. So what does Paul mean when he writes that his sufferings are for the glory of his readers?

I think one of Paul’s other letters very clearly answers that question:
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:17, 18 (NIV)

There is a very clear connection here between God’s glory and the future glory that will be experienced by God’s children. Paul writes that it is God’s glory that will one day be revealed in us and that sufferings we go through play a role in that process.

When we looked at our spiritual blessings in Christ in Ephesians 1, we saw that there is a past, present and future aspect of our salvation:
• In the past, I was justified, or made right with God. That is a onetime event that happened at the moment I became a follower of Jesus Christ
• Right now I am being sanctified. This is a process in which I am being transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ day by day. And that’s where suffering enters into the process as God uses those difficulties to help mold our lives.
• One day I will be glorified. I will experience the complete fulfillment of all the spiritual riches that God has promised to me.

That’s what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)  “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

We are able to reflect God’s glory because we have unrestricted access into His presence through Jesus. That’s a direct result of our justification. Right now, we are being transformed into the likeness with ever increasing glory. That’s the process of sanctification. And that process is leading to the day when we will experience the glory of God in full. That will be glorification. Because it is in the sanctification part of the process that we experience suffering, most of us would just as soon skip that part of the process and go right to the glorification part. But that’s not how God has chosen to work.

The key to enjoying the (rain or suffering) is to look at it as part of the process of producing a rainbow in your life. Most of us really don’t like suffering. But the key to dealing with that suffering is to view it as part of God’s eternal plan. We need to view our troubles as God’s work in our life and in the lives of others so that we can share in His glory. You are loved!

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SUFFERING (3)

God can use Me Regardless of My Circumstances
I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. Ephesians 3:13 (NIV)

Paul had ministered for longer in Ephesus than anywhere else, so it is quite likely that many of his readers had either had earlier personal encounters with him or had at least heard about Paul from those who had. So when they heard that Paul was now in prison, they had to be discouraged for a couple of reasons.

First, they had a hard time seeing how God was going to use Paul while he was locked up in prison. And secondly, they had to be worried what might happen to them as a result of their faith.

But Paul recognized that God could still use Him regardless of whatever circumstances he might be facing.  Philippians 1:12-14 (NIV) “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”

In a sense it’s kind of ironic that those who reading Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus were experiencing first hand God’s work in the life of Paul. The very letter that they were reading was probably one of the greatest ways that God ever used Paul. While he was in that Roman prison, Paul also wrote Colossians, Philippians and Philemon. I don’t think even Paul could appreciate the extent to which God was working through him in that Roman jail, but he certainly had the spiritual eyes to recognize that God was capable of using him regardless of his circumstances.

Unfortunately, far too many of God’s children use their circumstances as an excuse for not serving God. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say something like, “Well, I really can’t do that now, but when my circumstances change, then come see me again.”

• When I’m not so busy at work…
• When I have more money…
• When I have more time…
• When I know the Bible better…
• When I get over this loss…
• When I get feeling better…
• After my kids get older…

These are legitimate reasons for not being involved in a specific ministry. But at the same time, I’m convinced that God can use every one of His children regardless of their circumstances because God never limits the power He gives you in those circumstances.

I’m thankful for a lot of people in our church that serve God in spite of their circumstances. At the risk of embarrassing a few of you or perhaps offending some that I’ll forget to mention, I’d like to point out just a few who are ministering in spite of difficult circumstances;
•People On our worship team
• Hospitality team
• Greeter team
• Children’s ministry
• Nursery team, like Joni Torie who has M.S. but is still faithful and helps out nursery because she loves kids and loves God.

·  Youth team were Kelsey & Mike are faithful even though they have little Marea by there side.

All I can give is heartfelt thanks. Without you, we wouldn’t even have a church. Just don’t stop serving God because of circumstances. I want to encourage you to look beyond those circumstances and just trust that God will provide you with everything you need to serve Him in whatever way He has called you to serve.
You are loved...

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SUFFERING (2)

Suffering Reveals My True Nature
"I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory."
Ephesians 3:13 (NIV)

The word translated “sufferings” indicates something that is under extreme pressure. So Paul is not describing here some minor problems. He is writing about the kind of troubles that press against us and weigh us down.

You maybe experiencing that kind of suffering in your life right now. For some of you, it may be physical affliction where you are in constant pain or where you are no longer able to do many of things you once did. For some of you it may be the crushing emotional stress of a broken relationship, or the unending pressure and stress of your job. Some of you are connected to this Government shutdown and you don’t know how much longer you’ll be working. I know I can’t even begin to describe all the different types of suffering that you might be going through right now because I'm not you.

Paul certainly knew what it was to suffer.

“Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;” 2 Corinthians 6:4, 5 (NIV)

Paul clearly understood that one of the purposes of suffering in our lives is that it reveals what we’re really like deep inside. In fact, the word for suffering originally was used to describe the process of squeezing olives to extract the oil or crushing grapes to remove the juice. In those cases, the squeezing or crushing reveals what is inside the olives or the grapes?

The suffering we experience in our lives reveals what is inside us. When we’re crushed, those of us who are God’s children exude the sweet savor of Jesus Christ, the hope of glory from deep within our lives. I love what Paul says to the Colossians:

“Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness - the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:24-27 (NIV)

Do you see the connection between Paul’s suffering and the revelation of Jesus Christ in his life. When Paul got crushed with suffering, what got squeezed from his life for others to see was Jesus Christ. Not self-pity, bitterness, grumbling and complaining, but the sweet fragrance of Jesus Christ? So check your heart; does Jesus come out when you've been hurt or are facing trials in your life? My prayer is that he does and even so much more...you are loved!

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT SUFFERING (1)

I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
Ephesians 3:13 (NIV)

In the novel by Charles Knief titled Kim’s Rules; which is about a Honolulu policeman and his family. He lists out ten rules by which he believes one must live their life by. After reading these rules it sure seems to me that the rules certainly reflect Biblical principles and maybe he was a believer. Here are the ten rules:
1. Never judge a day by the weather.
2. The best things in life aren’t things.
3. Tell the truth – there’s less to remember.
4. Speak softly and wear a loud shirt.
5. Goals are deceptive - the unaimed arrow never misses.
6. He who dies with the most toys - still dies.
7. Age is relative - when you’re over the hill, you picked up speed.
8. There are two ways to be rich - make more or desire less.
9. Beauty is internal – looks mean nothing
10. No rain - No rainbows.

That last rule, which has also become the registered tagline, certainly could have been written by the Apostle Paul. In fact, that may very well be a pretty good summary of Ephesians 3:13, no rain-no rainbows. He says, "I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory."

As a Follower of Christ, you and I will Experience Suffering in our Life!

Paul began Ephesians 3 by describing himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus”, a reference to the fact that he was a prisoner in a Roman jail. But I don’t think that Paul was surprised at the trials he was experiencing. After his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, the Lord appeared to a man named Ananias and used him to deliver a message to Paul: “But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Acts 9:15, 16 (NIV)

At the very beginning of his life as a follower of Jesus Christ, one of the very first things that he learns from God is that he is going to suffer for the name of Jesus. What if I asked you those of you who need to receive Christ as savior and then said by the way, you’re going to suffer for Christ. You might hesitate for a minute. Or like Paul you would run into Jesus arms. Just before He went to the cross, Jesus told His followers that they would experience suffering as long as they remained here on this earth.

“…In this world you will have trouble…” John 16:33 (NIV) I love the whole verse, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world!” Even though we may suffer or have trails in our lives, we are overcomers through Christ!

That's why James says: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” James 1:2

Look at the word “whenever” in that verse. Notice that James didn’t write “if” you face trials. He wrote “whenever” you face them. In other words, suffering and trials are inevitable, even in the lives of believers. The advantage that God’s children have is not that they experience less suffering, but rather that they have God’s presence in their lives to help them through those rough times. So enjoy His presence in the good times or the trials, He's always there for you! You are loved...

Forgiveness

 

'We love because He first loved us.' 1 John 4:19 NIV


How do learn to forgive? Think of an area of unforgiveness and see if any of these reasons to hold a grudge resonate with you. (a) Anger keeps more potent emotions at bay; once it's gone you fear the emotional flood that may follow. (b) A grudge takes time and energy, and you're not sure who you'd be without it. (c) You've replayed your 'personal-betrayal-and-hurt movie' so often you know it by heart. (d) The idea of moving on is terrifying, whereas misery is familiar. (e) The offender has done nothing to deserve forgiveness. (f) Harboring resentment stops you from getting hurt again because nobody can get close. Jesus said, 'Why...look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own?' (Matthew 7:3 NIV) Jesus's analogy hits home because I've banged my plank into walls and around corners so often I'm certain I have retina damage! Now consider these reasons for releasing a grudge. (a) Relinquishing past hurts frees you to embrace the present and future. (b) When you're not spending time and energy feeding a grudge, you can nourish new, healthy ideas. (c) The offender can't keep hurting you when you shake off the shackles and move on. (d) Holding a grudge feels like a form of control, but actually you're the one being controlled. (e) Once you lower your defences you can start to heal, love, and be loved. (f) Feeling angry feels good temporarily, but being healed feels so much better. (g) God mandates us to love 'because He first loved us.

You've held onto it long enough; it's time to let it go and enjoy the freedom that comes from forgiveness. You are Loved....

Are You Hearing From God?

 

'Then Moses said to the Lord...' Exodus 33:12 NKJV


As I've read through the book Exodus several times, I came across  two statements that I found interesting: 'The Lord said to Moses,' and 'Moses said to the people.' There's an important lesson here. Until you have heard from God, what do you have to say to anybody else that's worth consideration?

Does that mean God won't use your brain? No, when your thoughts and desires are submitted to Him He will actually think and speak through you. What a privilege. The trouble is, sometimes we want to speak without first consulting God and hearing from Him. The people Moses had been called to lead hadn't heard from God for four hundred years. After ten generations of living without God's Word, can you imagine the shape they were in spiritually? If you want to know how such a mindset will act, look at their responses every time they had a problem in the wilderness. They wanted to go back to the security of Egypt!

To help people you must love them and listen to them, but you must be led only by God. Unless you know God intimately, when times get tough, the people you are helping will take you back to what's familiar and comfortable to them. When people want to go back to their old way of doing things, it's usually because they don't know God well enough. The litmus test of spiritual leadership is found in the ability to hear from God, and then to teach people to love God, to discern His will and begin to walk accordingly to it! So be a spiritual leader today and affect someone's life for Jesus! You are loved...