Ephesians 1. 15-23 Receiving the Spirit, being the Church.
When Paul made his big visit to Ephesus, he found a group of "disciples" - a word that, in Acts, always refers to a Christian. But Paul saw something was missing, and asked "did you receive the Spirit when you believed? He had prayed for them and seen the Holy Spirit come upon them.
* He knew from experience that they had the Holy Spirit.
* He knew by report that they loved Jesus and his people. He had heard about the good things that are happening in Ephesus. He knows about their faith in Jesus and their love for God's people.
* He knew theologically that God had blessed them in every spirit blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
That's all background to what he says next. He is praying for them, that God may give them a spirit of wisdom... well, no. He prays that God may give them Spirit of wisdom. Whenever Paul uses the word "pneuma" in his letters, he means the Holy Spirit.
So often when we talk about "recieving the Holy Spirit" there are wrong ideas and fears floating about, that pretty well can sideline the whole conversation. One is that we have already received the Spirit - so we shouldn't be asking to receive the Spirit. Another is that somehow to seek the Spirit is dangerous or "extreme" or only for a certain type or only for leaders, or somehow too vague and impractical. It boils down to two questions.
Question 1. Should we pray for the Spirit to come?
Here is another question: does Paul pray for something that can't be done? Does he pray for something God doesn't want to give? Is he asking for something that is already given therefore we don't really need?
No, for people who have the Spirit, Paul prays that God would give the Holy Spirit, because he knows that God wants us to continue to receive the Spirit. It's that simple really.
Question 2 What will the Spirit do?
What Paul prays reveals a great deal about the things the Spirit wants to do: he is the spirit of Wisdom Revelation knowledge understanding. This all seems to be about doing something is us, a healing and expanding of our minds and our inner life.
* Wisdom is a practical understanding: it meant "knowing what to do". OT models are Bezalel, the craftsman who was given wisdom in working with material things. (Ex 31.2) & Messiah (Isa 50.4).
* Revelation is apocalypsis, (the Greek word from which we get apocalypse). It means unveiling, removing the veil, "unhiding" (That's a word I made up.) cf 2 Cor 3.16: "When someone turns to Christ the veil is removed." The work of the Spirit in our lives turns us in our hearts and thinking, irrevocably towards Jesus Christ. And in Christ our minds are enlarged so that they can receive and pass on God's message.
* Accurate knowledge of God. For the Greeks, the idea of "knowledge" was something important. They loved "knowledge" and there were religious groups (the Gnostics) who looked for secret knowledge that only a privileged few could have. Paul says that the ability to know God isn't some secret mystery that you have to buy into. It is a gift that God himself give by his Spirit. And as a Jew, Paul knew that to know God was to love him and obey him.. That's what the Spirit does inside us.
* A continuing sense of discovery. The eyes of your hearts having been lit up (perfect tense: it has happened at conversion) that you may see, or understand.... This is about being able to build upon our conversion, in a sense of life-long-learning, Continual Personal development in the life of the Spirit....
Inside us, the Spirit wants to develop a practical wisdom, a passionate focus on Jesus, an accurate knowledge of God and constant growth.
Then Paul goes on to say what he wants them to see. These are the things Paul wants the Ephesians to see the Spirit doing not just inside them but outside them, through them and beyond them. They are about faith making a connexion with external realities, and there are three.
The hope we are called to. The Kingdom Hope - the rule that Jesus demonstrated, over the whole of creation. All things new. All people, all things, praising God. All things united under one head, in Christ. Diversity, unity, generosity. What a wonderful vision. What a wonderful world. What are we going to do with that? Wait for it to happen? No, we need to see that hope, to see foretastes of the Kingdom in the sweet here and now. We need to live a Kingdom life. And we do that not because we desire it or hanker after it. We do so because that is the hope to which God has called us.
The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Whose inheritance in the saints? His! Not ours! As we anticipate experience and live out of that future reality in a proactive way, we see, and demonstrate the glorious riches of God. We belong to him. We are his people. God wants us to see and understand and demonstrate what a fantastic, rich treasure he has inherited in us the saints!
The overflowing dimensions of his power towards us who believe. The overwhelming power of God, flowing towards, into us. The source of that power and the grand pattern for how that power works is the resurrection.... Paul says literally it is according to the energizing of his power that he energized in Christ when he raised him from the dead. We seek to live the coming Kingdom, to be God's inheritance, in the power of the Spirit, because Jesus is alive.
What does God want to do by his Spirit? Firstly he wants to grow us, so that we are big enough on the inside to be really wise, to have the veil on big truths taken away, to know God accurately, to perceive with eyes that can handle the light. Secondly, he wants us to go on a voyage of discovery... unwrapping our future hope (God's Kingdom - impacting the world today); God's inheritance in the saints; and the overflowing dimensions of his power towards us... That's a voyage, not a destination.
But Paul hasn't finished this breathless sentence. He's still thinking about God's power that raised up Jesus, seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places and made him head over all things for the Church which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way. He finishes it with this lightning bolt that connect the transcendent glory of Jesus, with this frail, fragile community of people on earth: the Church which is his body, the fullness of Jesus. That means that the Church is the entire contents of the Good ship Jesus, crew, passengers, cargo, supplies. And that Jesus is head over all for that church. And he fills everything that is in everything. That - again - is the cosmic Christ, the Christ who is bigger that our little Church and our little nation and our little vision. So as Paul prays that the Ephesians will receive the Spirit, he does so in order that they may really be the Church, really live as the fullness of him who fills everything that is in everything.
That's Paul's prayer. It's a "more, Lord" prayer. The prayer "more, Lord!" is a good prayer. But as Guy Chevraux says, "More is not enough." Paul isn't praying more, he's praying "all." If you like, he is praying for more of the "all" that they have already been given. And from that "all", there's always "more". Our call is to pray "more, Lord!" To receive the Spirit. And to be the church.
© Gilmour Lilly March 2011
Sunday 20 March 2011
Sunday 13 March 2011
Ephesians Chapter 1. 1-14 - Sunday 13 March
Introduction: Who were the Ephesians, why did Paul write to them? Ephesus, on the Aegean coast of south-western Turkey was an ancient place, which had been developed by the Greeks for hundreds for years; they had built and rebuilt the Temple of Diana or Artemis). It had become part of the Roman Empire and eventually was the capital of Asia (Western Turkey). Ephesus was so much influenced by the European cultures.
Paul almost missed Ephesus out completely. On his first missionary journey, he simply went into the heart of Turkey. On his second journey, the way didn't open up for him to go to south-western turkey, and he headed straight up to Troas where he crossed over into Greece. He only made the shortest of visits on his way home. It was only on his third journey that he stopped for over two years at Ephesus. Apollos had been there before him and there was a little group of believers. Paul encouraged them to receive the Holy Spirit, preached and demonstrated the Kingdom and saw a dramatic revival that resulted in rioting in the streets. That was the background to this church at Ephesus.... Although there was no particular issue to be sorted out in Ephesus, Paul still wanted to remind them of some of the important truths of their faith. He begins with one huge, long sentence from verses3-14. But this is more than dry, academic truth. This is something they could have kept and used in their worship, like a song or a prayer. It was in the style of a traditional Jewish blessing.
Eph 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...
Did you ever wonder what the word "Blessing" means? It means "To speak well" of someone or to someone. Paul begins by "Blessing" God, that is to say, speaking well of God. When we bless God, when we speak well of God and praise him, we don't impart anything to God. But for God to speak good things in to our lives is to impart that good into our lives, because God's word is always powerful and active. What good things does God speak in to our lives?
1. The very first thing God said in Scripture was "Let there be light!" God blesses us with his Creative word. He speaks and his voice touches the physical world, in healing, in protection, in provision.
2. The next blessing God speaks is in Gen 1. 22, where God blessed the living creatures he had made, "Be fruitful and multiply" and again to mankind (v 28) "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it". God blesses with his enabling word. He speaks a commission into our lives.
3. Then, God says, "I love you"... (Isa 43. 4; cf Jer 31. 10) Right at the beginning he saw that what he had made was "good." He is pleased. God blessed us with his affirming word.
The blessings that God has spoken into our lives are "Spiritual" blessings. That doesn't mean they are only for our inner, spiritual life. It means they are connected with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in some way or other involved in the way they are given to us. Paul uses the word "in" three times. God has blessed us, in every spiritual blessing, in the heavenly places, in Christ. Paul connects the work of the Spirit, the work of Jesus, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. God has blessed us in Holy Spirit blessings, in Christ and in heaven (where here and now God's perfect rule is already in place). Blessing is big, it is huge, it is wild and wonderful, like this prayer-song that Paul bursts into in verse 3-14! There are particular blessings God's creative, enabling, affirming word has spoken into our lives:
1.We are chosen. God picked us out. He predestined us. We get very uptight about that word. It conjures up the image of a God who "Sends ane to heaven and ten to Hell a' for thy glory"... Do you imagine God working his way down your street, and stopping at your door and saying, "yes, I'll choose him". "The he goes to your next-door neighbour and says "Nah, not him.) If that is what you believe, that somehow everything is determined in advance, then no wonder it is difficult to share your faith; no wonder it is difficult to pray. But God "Commands" people everywhere to repent (Acts 17. 30). And God wants all people to repent (2 Peter 3. 9)
What we need to note is that God chose us "In Christ". God has a plan and a purpose to save the world, to set up his Kingdom. The way he chose to do that was through Christ. We are not "Chosen" and then allowed to be part of Christ. We are "Chosen in Christ". I like the Good News translation which says, "God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children---this was his pleasure and purpose." The choice, the picking out, the predetermined decree, the architects plan that includes us, is the big picture. How that big picture connects with the choices we make and the freedom we have, is all a mystery. It's just a blessing and a gift that he has chosen us.
2. We are forgiven. Paul uses two words: "Redemption" which means being set free because someone has paid or ransom; and "Forgiveness" which means letting go of a debt. The death of Jesus pays our ransom, cancels our debt, and sets us free.
3. We are adopted. We have been adopted into God's family. Isn't that absolutely amazing. That means we have an inheritance (verse 11): we are rich beyond our wildest dreams!
And all of this is for a purpose which is bigger than just us. The big plan god has is to unite all things - nations, races, physical world, spiritual world, science, philosophy, earth and heaven, everything God has made, all united and fitted together like one organism with Christ as head over all. That's is God's plan. That's why we are blessed in Holy Spirit blessings. That's why we are chosen; that's why we are saved. That's why we are adopted. Because God has an eternal plan and purpose for the whole of everything. Amen?
Trouble is, some of us can't say that "Amen", or if we do, it's kind of wishful thinking. It's fine for someone else but not for me. It would be nice if... We just don't connect with it. It's too big for us. We're too small for it.
Paul finishes off his song by bringing this all home to God's people in Ephesus. "In Christ, you, hearing the word and believing in him, were sealed with the Holy Spirit." Some people think Paul is thinking of a contrast: "them and us"; there's "us" the Jewish Christians; or the first generation of Christians, and then there's "you" the Ephesians... But that's not what Paul is saying. The "we" he talks about through the passage is every Christian, Jewish and non-Jewish, old and young. He simply finishes of by stressing "You", in other words, don't miss out. Don't let this pass you by. Don't be robbed. There are no second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. The blessings, the freedom, the forgiveness, the purpose, they are or you. You have the Holy Spirit, like an engagement ring, guaranteeing the promise of the Kingdom until it is finally fulfilled.
On Friday night I had a dream: in fact the same dream twice. I dreamed that our Church hall was completely empty. No tables, no chairs, nothing. Everything had been stolen. I believe it is always possible for the Body of Christ to have the things that are really important stolen from us. Jesus says "The thief come to steal and kill and destroy: I have come that [my sheep] may have life in its fullness." Eugene Peterson in the Message suggests that Paul's writes Ephesians like a surgeon setting broken, dislocated bones. If there is a fracture, a dislocation between what God has done for us in Christ, and what we expect, experience and act upon, we are being robbed. Don't be robbed. The blessings are for you, too.
© Gilmour Lilly March 2011
Paul almost missed Ephesus out completely. On his first missionary journey, he simply went into the heart of Turkey. On his second journey, the way didn't open up for him to go to south-western turkey, and he headed straight up to Troas where he crossed over into Greece. He only made the shortest of visits on his way home. It was only on his third journey that he stopped for over two years at Ephesus. Apollos had been there before him and there was a little group of believers. Paul encouraged them to receive the Holy Spirit, preached and demonstrated the Kingdom and saw a dramatic revival that resulted in rioting in the streets. That was the background to this church at Ephesus.... Although there was no particular issue to be sorted out in Ephesus, Paul still wanted to remind them of some of the important truths of their faith. He begins with one huge, long sentence from verses3-14. But this is more than dry, academic truth. This is something they could have kept and used in their worship, like a song or a prayer. It was in the style of a traditional Jewish blessing.
Eph 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...
Did you ever wonder what the word "Blessing" means? It means "To speak well" of someone or to someone. Paul begins by "Blessing" God, that is to say, speaking well of God. When we bless God, when we speak well of God and praise him, we don't impart anything to God. But for God to speak good things in to our lives is to impart that good into our lives, because God's word is always powerful and active. What good things does God speak in to our lives?
1. The very first thing God said in Scripture was "Let there be light!" God blesses us with his Creative word. He speaks and his voice touches the physical world, in healing, in protection, in provision.
2. The next blessing God speaks is in Gen 1. 22, where God blessed the living creatures he had made, "Be fruitful and multiply" and again to mankind (v 28) "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it". God blesses with his enabling word. He speaks a commission into our lives.
3. Then, God says, "I love you"... (Isa 43. 4; cf Jer 31. 10) Right at the beginning he saw that what he had made was "good." He is pleased. God blessed us with his affirming word.
The blessings that God has spoken into our lives are "Spiritual" blessings. That doesn't mean they are only for our inner, spiritual life. It means they are connected with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in some way or other involved in the way they are given to us. Paul uses the word "in" three times. God has blessed us, in every spiritual blessing, in the heavenly places, in Christ. Paul connects the work of the Spirit, the work of Jesus, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. God has blessed us in Holy Spirit blessings, in Christ and in heaven (where here and now God's perfect rule is already in place). Blessing is big, it is huge, it is wild and wonderful, like this prayer-song that Paul bursts into in verse 3-14! There are particular blessings God's creative, enabling, affirming word has spoken into our lives:
1.We are chosen. God picked us out. He predestined us. We get very uptight about that word. It conjures up the image of a God who "Sends ane to heaven and ten to Hell a' for thy glory"... Do you imagine God working his way down your street, and stopping at your door and saying, "yes, I'll choose him". "The he goes to your next-door neighbour and says "Nah, not him.) If that is what you believe, that somehow everything is determined in advance, then no wonder it is difficult to share your faith; no wonder it is difficult to pray. But God "Commands" people everywhere to repent (Acts 17. 30). And God wants all people to repent (2 Peter 3. 9)
What we need to note is that God chose us "In Christ". God has a plan and a purpose to save the world, to set up his Kingdom. The way he chose to do that was through Christ. We are not "Chosen" and then allowed to be part of Christ. We are "Chosen in Christ". I like the Good News translation which says, "God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children---this was his pleasure and purpose." The choice, the picking out, the predetermined decree, the architects plan that includes us, is the big picture. How that big picture connects with the choices we make and the freedom we have, is all a mystery. It's just a blessing and a gift that he has chosen us.
2. We are forgiven. Paul uses two words: "Redemption" which means being set free because someone has paid or ransom; and "Forgiveness" which means letting go of a debt. The death of Jesus pays our ransom, cancels our debt, and sets us free.
3. We are adopted. We have been adopted into God's family. Isn't that absolutely amazing. That means we have an inheritance (verse 11): we are rich beyond our wildest dreams!
And all of this is for a purpose which is bigger than just us. The big plan god has is to unite all things - nations, races, physical world, spiritual world, science, philosophy, earth and heaven, everything God has made, all united and fitted together like one organism with Christ as head over all. That's is God's plan. That's why we are blessed in Holy Spirit blessings. That's why we are chosen; that's why we are saved. That's why we are adopted. Because God has an eternal plan and purpose for the whole of everything. Amen?
Trouble is, some of us can't say that "Amen", or if we do, it's kind of wishful thinking. It's fine for someone else but not for me. It would be nice if... We just don't connect with it. It's too big for us. We're too small for it.
Paul finishes off his song by bringing this all home to God's people in Ephesus. "In Christ, you, hearing the word and believing in him, were sealed with the Holy Spirit." Some people think Paul is thinking of a contrast: "them and us"; there's "us" the Jewish Christians; or the first generation of Christians, and then there's "you" the Ephesians... But that's not what Paul is saying. The "we" he talks about through the passage is every Christian, Jewish and non-Jewish, old and young. He simply finishes of by stressing "You", in other words, don't miss out. Don't let this pass you by. Don't be robbed. There are no second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. The blessings, the freedom, the forgiveness, the purpose, they are or you. You have the Holy Spirit, like an engagement ring, guaranteeing the promise of the Kingdom until it is finally fulfilled.
On Friday night I had a dream: in fact the same dream twice. I dreamed that our Church hall was completely empty. No tables, no chairs, nothing. Everything had been stolen. I believe it is always possible for the Body of Christ to have the things that are really important stolen from us. Jesus says "The thief come to steal and kill and destroy: I have come that [my sheep] may have life in its fullness." Eugene Peterson in the Message suggests that Paul's writes Ephesians like a surgeon setting broken, dislocated bones. If there is a fracture, a dislocation between what God has done for us in Christ, and what we expect, experience and act upon, we are being robbed. Don't be robbed. The blessings are for you, too.
© Gilmour Lilly March 2011
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