My Morning Meal

Reading in the latter part of Ephesians 6 this morning . . . considering again that I’m in a wrestling match . . . commanded again to “be strong in the Lord” and “to stand” . . . reflecting again on “the whole armor of God” . . . impressed again concerning the paramount importance of being able to maneuver “the shield of faith.”

” . . . above all, taking the shield of faith with which you are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” (Eph. 6:16)

You know, I guess that a “shield of faith” doesn’t really do much good if we don’t first recognize that we are in a battle . . . that we, in fact, “wrestle” . . . that we struggle . . . that we combat . . . and that, ultimately, it is not against flesh and blood, but against a well organized host of wickedness . . . against the wiles of the devil himself (6:11b-12). It’s this recognition that takes those things that we do out of “discipline mode” and “obedience mode” and shifts them to being acts of “survival” . . . preparing ourselves with truth . . . putting on righteousness . . . firm footing established on the gospel . . . word of God at the ready.

How can morning devo’s (or evening devo’s) be a struggle if they really are a matter of survival? Righteousness isn’t about “having no fun” obedience, it’s a matter of surrounded by warfare protection. I’ve said before that the only thing more dangerous than walking through a minefield is not knowing you’re walking through a minefield . . . or worse yet, not believing you’re in a minefield and determining to stomp around in your ignorance and arrogance. I’m reminded this morning . . . I’m walking in a minefield . . . an enemy about me who is a “roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1Peter 5:8). I’m to take up the whole armor of God . . . “above all, taking the shield of faith.”

Faith . . . Forsaking All I Trust Him . . . it was the vehicle through which I was saved (Eph. 2:8) . . . the basis upon which righteousness was imputed (Rom. 3:22) . . . and it is the material which constitutes my greatest defensive weapon as the enemy seeks to trip me up and put me off and take me down. It’s not what I can know, or reason, or understand, or see, or touch, of control . . . it’s what I believe. When all is said and down, as long as I’m walking this pilgrim’s walk, I walk by faith and not by sight (2Cor. 5:7) . . . time and time again I need to “trust in the Lord with all my heart . . . lean not to my own understanding . . . in all my ways acknowledge Him . . . believing that He will direct my paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).

And when, by my determination and God’s grace, faith is exercised . . . the shield moved to the place or circumstance needing to be protected . . . Paul says that it will “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Not just deflect . . . not just hold at bay . . . but quench . . . extinguish . . . snuff out . . . douse. The fiery dart is rendered inoperative . . . it’s flame put out . . . it’s danger destroyed. That, is the power and effectiveness of the shield of faith. And it’s not just that it can have this affect on “some” of the wicked one’s fiery darts. No, the shield of faith, wielded in the power of the Spirit, stops all the enemies pointed attacks.

Do I believe that? If I don’t, I’ll leave the shield on the ground, never thinking to raise it up in defense. But if I do . . . if I have “faith in faith” then I will seek to learn to use that all protecting wall of protection effectively . . . and I will choose to use it without hesitation . . . believing that if God is for me, who can be against me . . . believing that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world . . . believing that God is sovereign and truly controls all things . . . believing the promises of God . . . trusting in the care of God.

Faith in faith . . . taking up the shield . . . believing it is sufficient to repel any and all attacks of the enemy . . . that’s what I believe . . . Lord, help my unbelief (Mark 9:24) . . . for Your glory . . . amen!

The command is clear . . . the example is glorious. What I am to do is beyond dispute . . . Who I am to emulate is beyond description. The opportunity to be an object lesson should inspire me . . . the reality of being the object of His affection should amaze me. Such is the two-fold nature of Paul’s exhortation to husbands in Ephesians 5.

The command is simple and direct . . . but, it is directed to men and so, it needs to be repeated three times . . . “Husbands, love your wives . . . so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies . . . let each of you in particular so love his own wife as himself” (Eph. 5:25, 28, 33). Pretty clear, really, in terms of what I’m to do. And the “how I’m to do it” is also spelled out . . it’s not a phileo, or brotherly affection I’m to show my wife . . . and it’s not just an eros love I’m to share with her . . . but it is the full-blown, Christ modeled, agape, or self-sacrificing love . . . “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church” (5:25). The Lord is the pattern for wife-loving husbands. I’m to show the same love to my wife, as Christ showed to the church. And it’s here where Paul “digresses” a bit, as he moves from the command to the example . . . as he illustrates what I’m to do with what has been done for me.

The motivation for loving my bride goes so beyond “disciplined obedience” . . . it is born from being, myself, part of “the bride of Christ” . . . the church. Check this out . . .

” . . . Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:25b-27).

O’, the love of Christ! It goes so far beyond meeting our basic need of forgiveness of sins . . . it encompasses a redemption that eventually results in Christ delighting in presenting to Himself a glorious church . . . holy . . . without spot . . . without blemish . . . wrinkle free!

And this high and lofty end goal for His people could only be achieved as Christ gave Himself fully and wholly to His bride and for His bride. The blood of Christ cleansing us from all sin . . . the blood of Christ making us whole again . . . the blood of Christ being the basis for His work of sanctification and beautification and glorification. The work He has begun in His bride, He will complete (Php. 1:6) . . . as He “cleans us up” with the washing of His word . . . as He transforms us into His image through the renewing of our minds . . . as He determines to get us ready to present us to Himself . . . wrinkle free.

What will it be to be marched down the aisle with Christ waiting before us to receive us. I’m thinking He’ll stand as He did with Stephen (Acts 7:55-56). And He will see us arrayed in a garment of righteousness which He purchased for us . . . holy, spotless, without blemish . . . wrinkle free. And we will be culmination of His love for us . . . His prize . . . a glorious church . . . for His glory.

Yup, the command is great . . . and by His grace, I want it to play out in my marriage . . . that it might, in some small degree, be an object lesson of how Christ loved the church. But while the command is great . . . the Commander is beyond great . . . His love beyond full comprehension . . . His work beyond fully knowing . . . until that day He presents His bride to Himself . . . wrinkle free!

The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face . . . I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace . . .

It’s kind of second nature now . . . this walking thing. I don’t really think much, if at all, about what’s involved in alternating between putting my left foot forward and then my right. Second nature now . . . but wasn’t always. Though I don’t remember it myself, I’ve been around enough toddlers to know that learning to walk takes some practice. It involves watching those feet . . . it requires learning to maintain your balance . . . you start by holding on to stuff . . . and eventually you let go and “solo.” But beyond learning to walk as a young child, I had to learn how to walk again my car accident back in ’77. I had shattered my femur and after way too many weeks on crutches, I eventually had to be taught the finer points of walking again. Sure, I knew the basics . . . but it took a physiotherapist to watch what I was doing and coach me on doing it right, “Remember . . . heel, toe when you’re putting down your right foot.” This all comes to mind because of what I read in the first part of Ephesians 5 this morning.

Here too, Paul talks about walking. Three times he instructs these believers how to walk. The NIV says “live” . . . that’s accurate . . . but I think the other translations do better when they use the word walk. It’s about making one’s way . . . progressing . . . regulating or conducting one’s life. It’s about ordering your steps so that you get from here to there. And whether you’re a new believer . . . or a crusty old veteran . . . whether you’re learning for the first time how to walk . . . or re-learning after having been sidetracked by something . . . or being reminded so that you never forget to “heel toe” . . . it seems to me we benefit from be reminded how to walk.

First, Paul says, “walk in love” . . . the kind of love that Christ loved us with when gave Himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God (5:2). Jesus loved me to death (literally) . . . even when I was still in darkness . . . still in sin . . . still an enemy (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10). His love was unconditional and unreserved. He loved me so much that He gave Himself fully to atone for my sin and redeem my soul. And I love Him now, because He first loved me (1John 4:19). That’s the kind of love I am to walk with. That’s how I am to order my steps . . . sacrificially caring for others with the heart and mind of Christ.

Then Paul says, “Walk as children of light” (5:8). That’s what I am . . . a child of light . . . once blind, but now I see . . . once in darkness, but now called out of that darkness and into His marvelous light (1Peter 2:9). So, I’m to a walk in that light, having “no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (5:11). My walk should look different from those around me who are still in darkness . . . not that it is a walk of superiority or a walk of being “holier-than-thou”, but that it is a walk that marks those who now live for a different kingdom . . . those who march to the beat a different Drummer . . . hearing the drumbeat of heaven and ordering their lives accordingly. To walk in the ways of this world isn’t being true to who I am in Christ. I need to walk as a child of light.

And Paul’s last bit of “walking advice” is about walking carefully: “See then that you walk circumspectly” (5:15). Order your steps “exactly, diligently, accurately.” I’ll never forget how this was illustrated by a preacher years and years ago . . . the idea is that of a cat walking on top of a fence . . . carefully placing each paw in front of the other . . . one misstep resulting in him falling off that narrow beam. Whether we are a newborn in the faith, or have been traveling the highway to heaven for some time, we need to be mindful to walk circumspectly . . . to have our head in the game . . . to watch our step . . . to not become careless where we place our feet. Paul says, “Not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (5:15b-16). This pilgrim road is a narrow road . . . dangers exists on either side . . . and so I need to carefully watch my step . . . not become complacent . . . not play loose with the high-calling of heaven.

Heel, toe . . . heel, toe . . . walk in love . . . walk in light . . . walk in a straight line . . . walk for the glory of God . . . heel, toe . . . heel, toe . . .

There’s a verse in Ephesians 3 which, no matter how often I read it, never ceases to amaze me. It always catches my attention . . . always causes me to pause and consider . . . always evokes that great theological response of awe, “Wow!”

” . . . to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be make known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10)

There’s some schooling going on in the heavenlies . . . God making known His wisdom, His supreme intelligence. The nature of this wisdom is “manifold” it is literally “much variegated, marked with a great variety of colors” . . . like a large, precious, flawless diamond that, when held up to the light at different angles, displays a different brilliance and beauty. It is a like a finely woven tapestry . . . intricately woven, magnificently detailed, wonderfully colored.

And who receives this schooling on the manifold wisdom of God . . . who are His students? The classroom consists of the principalities and powers. The angelic realm, both those doing God’s bidding and those in open rebellion to God . . . both being subject to this color-packed display of the wisdom and ways of God. They have front row seats, as they peer over the balcony of heaven and observe this great object lesson. The evidence of it also being seen in heaven itself, gathered around the throne, voices joined in praise to the Lamb and to the Father who sits upon the throne.

And what is this object lesson? What is worthy to effectively and accurately demonstrate the multi-faceted, glorious wisdom of God? What could God possibly hold up to angelic beings and say, “There! That’s it! You want to catch the eternal wonder of how I think? Look there . . . and keep looking . . . keeping turning it over in the light to see yet another aspect of My divine wisdom . . . look closely at how it evidences My thoughts above all thoughts . . . how it declares My ways which are above all ways!” So, what is it?

It is the Church. The company of “called out ones”. Those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Those who have been made new creations in Christ. Those who would be known simply as “sinners saved by grace.” A rag, tag bunch of “works in progress”. Pilgrims stumbling on their way home. Members of a body trying to figure out how to fit and work together. Living stones being chiseled and fitted into a spiritual building where God desires to dwell through His Spirit. Lights trying to shine in darkness. Sheep who have heard the Great Shepherd’s voice. Prodigals who have come to their senses and have come back home. You get the idea . . . the list goes on . . . there are any number of ways we, as the church, are described in Scripture . . . God’s inheritance . . . a royal priesthood . . . children of God . . . like I said, it goes on.

Pick up the diamond of the church and hold it up to the light and another facet shines forth . . . another aspect to be appreciated . . . another face to be viewed in awe as we consider that we are an object lesson to the heavenlies. That somehow God uses us to encapsulate and display His divine Wisdom.

And boy, don’t we know that it’s not about us. Not about how well we’ve “cleaned up” . . . not about the degree to which we have it all together. No, it’s all about the mystery of God’s plan to redeem those He loves. The wisdom of a God who would chose a man, and then a nation, through which we would seek to bless all people. That He would send His Son to become flesh and pay the once-for-all price to atone for our sin. That, through resurrection, death and sin might be defeated. That, through the wooing of the Spirit and our exercise of feeble faith, we might be made children of God . . . that we might be formed into the church of God . . . that we might display the manifold wisdom of God . . . to a heavenly host . . . in a heavenly classroom . . . to bring glory to our heavenly Father.

Like I said before, “Wow!”

I like good seats. When I go to a sporting event or a concert or some other special presentation in a large venue, I like to get good seats . . . I don’t like paying for them . . . but I like to get good seats. I like to be near where the action is . . . I’m not much of a binoculars guy, so if I’m going to watch it, I need to be near enough, or at least have a good enough vantage point, to clearly see what’s going on.

On a few occasions, I’ve been invited to a Seattle Mariners game and to watch it from one of the hospitality rooms — sitting in those perfectly placed box seats. Now that’s how to a watch a game. Perched over the third base line . . . with the game in front of you . . . and a room full of food behind you. Able to move from seat to buffet table without having to say “Excuse me . . . pardon me . . . excuse me”. Those are good seats!

This morning, as I read Ephesians 2, I read about some more good seating . . .

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6).

Were I to list all the benefits of salvation, in addition to forgiveness of sins, relationship with God, and eternal life, I’d have to write down, “Good seats!” Through faith in the finished work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, on the cross, I have been made alive, raised up, and seated in heavenly realms in Christ. There’s a seat with my name on it . . . purchased with the blood of Christ . . . and, it is a front row seat . . . center stage . . . behind the home plate . . . on the 50 yard line . . . pick whatever picture you want . . . just know that, as believers, we have sweet seats together with Christ in heavenly places.

In the company of Jesus . . . He whose “exclusive seating” is located at the right hand of the throne of God (Eph. 1:20). You don’t get much closer to “the action” than that. Reserved seating in the heavenly Holy of Holies . . . so close you can reach out and touch Him . . . ah, no . . . so close you would do nothing but fall on Your face and worship Him! And it says we occupy those seats even now . . . we are seated there now . . . our presence is known there even at this moment as He makes intercession for His beloved children (Rom. 8:34). But then, a day will come, and just as we have been raised in newness of life spiritually, we will be raised in newness of life physically and transported to our seats . . . taking up our place at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9) . . . settling into the customized venue that Jesus has been preparing for us for the last 2,000 years (John 14:1-3) . . . oh, don’t you love good seats!

I can’t afford premier seating at a professional sporting event . . . and I could never pay the price for seats in the heavenly places. And I certainly don’t merit front row seating because of who I am or what I’ve done . . . in fact, were my seating based on what I’ve done, I’d be seated in the basement . . . far, far away from the where the action of glory is. Nope, my seat was graced to me. Even when I was dead in trespasses and sin . . . even when I was still an enemy of God, caring nothing for the things of the kingdom of heaven . . . it was then He made me alive together with Christ . . . by grace I was saved. And He determined to bless me beyond “just” the salvation of my soul . . . He reserved for me a seat . . . a real good seat . . . a spot in heavenly places in the One I love.

By faith I enjoy, in some measure, the vantage point of heaven from that seat today . . . the Spirit of God interceding with my spirit to reveal something of the glory that awaits. But the day is coming, perhaps very soon, when I will take that seat “face to face.” I’ll enter the venue . . . won’t need an usher, I’ll know just where to sit . . . and the glory of the place with fill me with indescribable awe . . . only to pale when I see the One who loved me so much He sent His Son to redeem me and purchase for me a place in the heavenlies. And, I’m guessing I won’t sit in that seat very long before I find myself either standing or facedown as I join the choir of heaven and declare, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13). Those are good seats! Amen?