My Morning Meal

Sometimes I’ll read Paul’s letters the same way I’ll drink a jug of milk. I’ll consume the milk glass by glass . . . but then, often, throw away the jug when there’s still a little left in it. Sometimes I’ll do the same with Paul’s letter . . . reading it though section by section . . . but then, when I come to his final greetings . . . when I start to read his last lines . . . then, if I read them at all, I’ll just skim over them. This morning, for some reason (maybe a Holy Spirit reason?), as I read the final portion of Ephesians I read it to the very end . . . took in Paul’s final words to these believers . . . and it was good to the last drop.

Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
(Ephesians 6:24 ESV)

Paul’s last words to his readers at Ephesus. At first glance, it might look like a conditional blessing . . . grace for those who love Jesus with a special kind of love. But that isn’t the nature of grace . . . conditional on our ability to love in a certain way . . . to perform to a certain standard. To be sure, you can frustrate grace (Gal. 2:21) . . . and you can fall from grace (Gal. 5:4) . . . but that happens when you stop relying totally on grace, instead thinking that full justification occurs when we have our spiritual act in order . . . or that sanctification is something that I work for rather than a work God does in me. So grace isn’t dependent upon my ability to love with a love incorruptible . . . but love incorruptible is the manner of love infused within me by the abundant grace of God.

. . . and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. . . . God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:5, 8 ESV)

Poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit . . . poured, spilled out into our very souls and spirits . . . the picture being that of something gushing out into an empty vessel. Empty vessel . . . that would be us without Christ. Spilling abundantly into us . . . that would be the Father spilling into us through the Son. Love incorruptible . . . that would be the heavenly substance running out into us.

The other reason I don’t think Paul’s closing words are a conditional statement is because of the type of love we are talking about. While the NKJV translates it loving in “sincerity,” the idea behind the word is that of something that is imperishable . . . immortal . . . and thus, incorruptible. It is an eternal love . . . a love with unending existence. Don’t know that I can manufacture that type of love . . . but by God’s grace, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, I can be a receptacle of such love . . . and as such reflect something of that pure, everlasting love.

We love because He first loved us. (1John 4:19 ESV)

And I know from “reading ahead” that it is possible to “abandon the love you had at first” . . . as did the Ephesians (Rev. 2:4). Even for those who are keepin’ on, as did the Ephesians, the love can wax cold . . . but I don’t think it’s because of what we don’t do as much as what we stop relying on . . . and Who we stop pursuing on a daily basis.

I’m but an earthen vessel . . . possessing the treasure of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ — having the love of God poured out into me by the Spirit of God . . . evidencing that the surpassing power of imperishable love belongs to God and not to me (2Cor. 4:7).

Love incorruptible . . . poured out into jars of clay . . . good to the last drop. Amen?

Hands down . . . it is a glorious passage. That it is sometimes avoided, being considered controversial, is tragic. First, because the “controversy” surrounds God’s plan for marriage . . . second, because, by avoiding the passage, the insight it gives concerning “the mystery” isn’t savored. The passage is like a kaleidoscope. You can look at the kaleidoscope itself and not be too impressed . . . kind of plain shaped . . . maybe dressed up a bit in some wrapping paper . . . so what? But look THROUGH the kaleidoscope . . . and that’s when the jazz factor kicks in . . . behold the multi-faceted pattern . . . take in the splendor of the all the color that is seen through the instrument. Marriage is kind of like a kaleidoscope . . . in looking through it we see the glorious beauty of a Savior, a Sanctifier, and a Presenter.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. . . . Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.   (Ephesians 5:22-27 ESV)

Paul lays out the dynamics of a marriage that will be manifest in those who are “filled with the Spirit” (5:18) . . . these dynamics being founded and fueled after the demonstration of God’s amazing grace and awesome love. And in doing so, Paul invites us to look through the lens of marriage in order to behold the beauty of Christ, our Lord.

He is Savior . . . having given Himself as the once for all sacrifice for our sin. He is the atonement for our transgression, His work on the cross being a finished work . . . His resurrection from the dead being the assurance of victory over sin and death . . . His way into the holy of holies being an open way for all who believe.

He is Sanctifier . . . having redeemed a people, He begins a work to renew a people. Set apart for His glory, through the washing of the word, and the renewal of the mind, He transforms us . . . and conforms us . . . to His own blessed nature. The righteousness that is imputed, or credited to us, through salvation is then imparted, or made more and more real in us, through sanctification.

Glorious Savior . . . Wonderful Sanctifier . . . but what really grabbed me this morning is that my Lord . . . my Head . . . is a Faithful Presenter.

When I first believed, Christ presented me to the Father as a new born child of God in Him . . . I was taken from the mire and seated in heavenly places in Him . . . I was ushered into the very holy presence of God, my sin-stained garments having been covered in His robe of righteousness. Father, He says, may I present to You my blood-bought brother . . .

As I stumble along this pilgrim path, Jesus continues to present me before the throne as He determines to “save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). He intercedes through my trials . . . He entreats through my temptations . . . He advocates when I trip up, confess, and once again plead the cleansing blood of Christ. Father, may I present to You my work-in-progress follower . . .

And one glorious day . . . when faith gives way to sight . . . when all the saints are gathered as one . . . the risen Christ will again present me as part of splendorous body, without spot . . . without wrinkle . . . holy and without blemish. Father, may I present to You my beautiful bride!

To be sure, much in the passage to take to heart concerning my marriage. But looking beyond the pattern, might I see the Person . . . looking beyond the earthly dynamics of a God ordained relationship, might I have eyes to see into the portals of heaven itself and see my God sent Redeemer . . .

Father, may I present to You . . .

For all that the Bible is, it is not a prescriptive, step-by-step, manual on how to navigate every circumstance of life. For all that the Holy Spirit is, His is not to “call an audible” in every situation with a choice, nor to act as a perpetual GPS voice telling us when to turn left . . . when to turn right . . . when to make a u-turn. Now to be sure, God has, through His Word and through His Spirit, given us everything we need for living a godly life (2Peter 1:3-4) . . . and, to be sure again, God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure (Php. 2:13) . . . but in that, we still need to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php. 2:12) . . . we still need to figure out the details.

. . . and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:10 ESV)

It’s often said that “God has a plan for your life” . . . true enough. But it’s not like that plan is delivered to us in some script . . . our lines aren’t written out for us . . . we don’t really get to read ahead and know how the plot turns out . . . and there certainly isn’t some dude sitting in a director’s chair bellowing at us when to “enter stage left” and “exit stage right”. We know there’s a plan . . . we know generally how to “get in character” . . . on some matters we have some pretty explicit “thou shalls and thou shalt nots” . . . but beyond that, we need to discern what’s pleasing to the Lord.

We need to take the Bible’s principles for life and map them to the specifics of life. Through the help of the Spirit, we need to test, examine, and scrutinize, the paths before us and seek to recognize the way well pleasing to the Lord. Though God is Sovereign, we are to be circumspect . . . “looking carefully how we walk” . . . seeking to walk as wise and not as the foolish (Eph. 5:15).

How tragic when believers are doing life on auto-pilot . . . handing over the controls to whatever “feels good” . . . or merging onto the world’s “express lanes” and going with the flow in order to make good time.

Instead, we are to be discerners . . . we are to test our choices . . . we are to examine the forks in the road before us . . . and seek, through the Word of God in front of us and by the mind of Christ inside of us, to ascertain the best choice and to take the right road and so, “walk in a manner worthy of our calling” (Eph. 4:1).

It’s kind of exciting, actually (maybe exciting like an extreme roller-coaster sometimes) . . . to consciously submit our wills to His . . . to purposefully seek to have His mind be ours . . . to engage in the walk and the work He has prepared in advance for us . . . experiencing the reality of a living Word . . . hearing the inner voice of an ever-present Holy Spirit. Being discerning is interacting with the divine.

May not always get it right, but that’s when we trust in a Father who will bring us back to paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Ps. 23:3).

Figuring out the details . . . by His grace . . . for His glory . . .

Amen?

Grace. When we talk about grace, we often speak about amazing grace . . . and all-sufficient grace. We think about grace abundant enough to cover our sins . . . about receiving grace when we deserved wrath. The well of grace is deep . . . and I, for one, love drinking of its waters. By default, I’m thinking, when we think of grace we think of how grace has been shown to us . . . we glory in being recipients of God’s unmerited favor. But what about being dispensers of grace?

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29 ESV)

Paul has shifted in his letter to the Ephesians from the doctrinal to the practical. After three glorious chapters of revealing who we are in Christ, he changes gears to exhort the believer to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1). And, if I’m picking up some of what he’s laying down, then part of “walking in a manner worthy” is to be a dispenser of grace.

That the Scriptures recognize the power of the mouth is evident . . . that I so often am not mindful of the impact of words is, unfortunately, also all too evident.

James says that, though the tongue is a “small member,” yet it can set forests ablaze . . . stir up a world of unrighteousness . . . stain the whole body . . . spew deadly poison. It is a small member that no human can tame . . . and with it we “bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” “My brothers,” he says, “these things ought not to be so” (James 3:5-10).

Jesus says the mouth is a window into the heart . . . “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34) . . . that “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart” (Matt. 15:18).

So, according to James, we need a regenerated tongue . . . what man cannot tame, the Spirit of God can. For those who have believed the gospel message . . . who have been redeemed . . . who have been born again . . . operation “Tame the Tongue” has begun. And according to Jesus, if now, as objects of God’s great love, we have come to be filled with overflowing grace . . . if our hearts have become cisterns collecting the living water of heaven poured out into our lives . . . shouldn’t what comes out of mouths reflect some of that living water . . . some of that amazing grace . . . some of that all-sufficient grace?

So easy to be mindful of being recipients and dull concerning being dispensers. So natural to lift our faces heavenward, open our mouths wide, and invite the rain of heaven to fill and refresh us anew . . . and not think twice about the privilege and opportunity we have to serve up some of that heavenly refreshment such that others might be built up and encouraged, as well.

To be a dispenser of grace . . . to speak words that reflect the compassion of Christ and the heart of God . . . to take a pass on “brutal honesty” and instead draw alongside with gentle encouragement.

That, by the grace of God, we might impart the grace of God . . . for the benefit of His people . . . for the glory of His Name. Amen?

Last night, me and my buds wrapped up a journey. Getting together once a week, we have spent 18 of the past 21 months doing, what we’ve called, an Old Testament “fly by.” The first nine months we “sampled” the historical books . . . getting a big picture sense of God’s workings among men and, in particular, with a chosen people, Israel . . . noting the prominent place of promise in God’s purposes . . . marveling at the rag-tag bunch of less-than-perfect people God determines to accomplish His purposes through. After a 3 month break, we then continued for the last 9 months on “touching down” on every other book in the Old Testament. From Moses’ writings on the sacrifices and feasts and, on the blessings and curses conditional upon the obedience of the people rescued from Egypt . . . to the wisdom literature — the story of Job, the song book of David, the proverbs and poetry of Solomon, and then to the prophets . . . lots and lots of prophets.

So why do it? Why would a bunch of non-Jewish guys sitting in Washington State in the 21st Century spend time considering the ancient texts and happenings of the descendants of Jacob? My reading in Ephesians 3 gives insight as to why . . .

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.   (Ephesians 3:4-6 ESV)

Our interest in studying the history and heritage of Israel is because we have been grafted into that history and heritage through the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Our desire to comprehend more the incomprehensible God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is driven by the reality that He is our God . . . and we have have been graced into the body of His chosen people, into the riches of His special treasure. We have been made part of the mystery woven throughout the Old Testament, the mystery of how God would bless all nations through Abraham . . . of how David would have an heir to the throne forever . . . of how men with hearts of stone would be given hearts of flesh that they might know God. The mystery which is revealed in Christ Jesus . . . the fulfillment of the law . . . the once-for-all atoning sacrifice for all men’s sins . . . all the promises of God being “Yes” and “Amen” in Him. And, by God’s grace, we too are “in Him.”

And so, this eclectic group of men, sitting around the table Wednesday night after Wednesday night, desired to noodle through these ancient texts because we are “fellow heirs” . . . “members of the same body” . . . “partakers of the promise” . . . “in Christ Jesus” . . . “through the gospel.”

We who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus (Eph. 2:13) . . . and by the active agency of the Spirit working in us, we long to draw nearer. Being fellow heirs we want to understand something of our heritage and the promised inheritance. As members of the body we want to better know our exalted Head and the privileges and responsibilities associated with being part of the body. As partakers of the promise, we desire to know, more deeply, the Promise-Giver . . . to worship, more fully, the Promise-Fulfiller.

It’s been a great journey. Not because we have a few more facts to store in the old brain (and, for some of us, it is getting to be an old brain) . . . but because, through the illumination of our heaven-sent Teacher, we know Him a bit better . . . we love Him a bit more . . . the manifold, multifaceted wisdom of God is a bit clearer . . . by His grace, the work of conforming us to the image of His Son is a bit further along . . . and, the gospel becomes that much greater.

Looking forward to the fall brothers . . .