Psalm 133:1
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
2 Chronicles 30:12
Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.
Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
I’ve been absent from this space for some time. Please bear with me as I feel my way through. As I write this this week, the nation is gripped in sadness over the death of some twenty seven people, most of whom are children, in the state of Connecticut. Please remember these families in your prayers. In what should be the most joyous time of the year for most of us, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, so often turns into a time of loneness, despair and hopelessness for so many who are overwhelmed by the pressure of day to day life. Both within the Church and without, there are people whose burdens are great. I would point all of us to Christ, who never allows a burden greater than we can bear. The beauty of the celebration surrounding this season is that it allows us to re-calibrate, to re-focus our hearts toward our Lord, to find a place of quietness and comfort in Christ.
In that vein, let us turn our attention to this week’s lesson. Please note that Paul is writing to us from prison. Even so, he regards himself as “a prisoner for the Lord”. Paul encouraged his readers from a place of desperation. Being a Christian in Ephesus in Paul’s day, would not have been an easy task. Ephesus was a place full of ‘spiritual wickedness in high places’. Idolatry was prevalent, as was corruption and greed. Believers were challenged on every hand to compromise their beliefs in order to ‘get along’. It was important to Paul to encourage the believers in Ephesus to bond together in unity and to understand that they were one in and with the Lord of all creation, Jesus Christ. His opening plea for unity points out that there is the strength of their bond was that they are literally part of one Church, one Hope, one Baptism, one faith, one Spirit, one Father; God and one Lord; Jesus. If God is with you, who can be against you? I’m reminded of Elijah asking God to reveal his ‘Host’ to his servant.
2 Kings 6:17
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Beloved, it is no small affair to be part of the driving force of all creation. You are never alone. You are never abandoned.
Paul goes on to reveal God’s purpose for us, that we become mature believers, not tossed to and fro by every challenge that comes our way. I won’t spend much more time here except to say this: a mature body of believers is a body that is poised to deliver the redemptive power of the Gospel to a starving world in Love. Jesus ascended into Heaven, but he left us here. He left us here, with His Holy Spirit in order to minister to the lost, the hopeless, the despair-ate (desperate). Let’s get to work.
Selah,
.wb
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
2 Chronicles 30:12
Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.
Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
I’ve been absent from this space for some time. Please bear with me as I feel my way through. As I write this this week, the nation is gripped in sadness over the death of some twenty seven people, most of whom are children, in the state of Connecticut. Please remember these families in your prayers. In what should be the most joyous time of the year for most of us, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, so often turns into a time of loneness, despair and hopelessness for so many who are overwhelmed by the pressure of day to day life. Both within the Church and without, there are people whose burdens are great. I would point all of us to Christ, who never allows a burden greater than we can bear. The beauty of the celebration surrounding this season is that it allows us to re-calibrate, to re-focus our hearts toward our Lord, to find a place of quietness and comfort in Christ.
In that vein, let us turn our attention to this week’s lesson. Please note that Paul is writing to us from prison. Even so, he regards himself as “a prisoner for the Lord”. Paul encouraged his readers from a place of desperation. Being a Christian in Ephesus in Paul’s day, would not have been an easy task. Ephesus was a place full of ‘spiritual wickedness in high places’. Idolatry was prevalent, as was corruption and greed. Believers were challenged on every hand to compromise their beliefs in order to ‘get along’. It was important to Paul to encourage the believers in Ephesus to bond together in unity and to understand that they were one in and with the Lord of all creation, Jesus Christ. His opening plea for unity points out that there is the strength of their bond was that they are literally part of one Church, one Hope, one Baptism, one faith, one Spirit, one Father; God and one Lord; Jesus. If God is with you, who can be against you? I’m reminded of Elijah asking God to reveal his ‘Host’ to his servant.
2 Kings 6:17
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Beloved, it is no small affair to be part of the driving force of all creation. You are never alone. You are never abandoned.
Paul goes on to reveal God’s purpose for us, that we become mature believers, not tossed to and fro by every challenge that comes our way. I won’t spend much more time here except to say this: a mature body of believers is a body that is poised to deliver the redemptive power of the Gospel to a starving world in Love. Jesus ascended into Heaven, but he left us here. He left us here, with His Holy Spirit in order to minister to the lost, the hopeless, the despair-ate (desperate). Let’s get to work.
Selah,
.wb
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