Ephesians 2

Paul is such an interesting writer. Sometimes, he has run-on sentences with no end in sight. Other times, he says something so punchy, so concise, you’re floored.

In Ephesians 1, he has one of those run-on sentences. In Ephesians 2, he tightens things up a bit. He has two proclamations worth noting here.

First, he says, “Saving is all his idea, and all his work.”

The “his” here is referring to God, of course. Paul is talking about our old lives, our lives of sin, and how God saved us from that. It’s mind-boggling really. It was all God’s idea and God’s work. Not ours.

Then, Paul says, “He [God] tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance.”

Here, Paul is referring to the division of Jews and Gentiles (aka the non-Jewish outsiders). In Jerusalem and the temple at that time, a literal wall existed in the temple courts and Paul is claiming figuratively that wall no longer exists between them. There’s no difference. God is saving Jews and non-Jews.

It makes me think of Needtobreathe’s album and song, “The Outsiders.” We, as humans, have all sorts of ways we try to separate, label, classify, codify, name, and box-in The Other.

If you heard someone say, “Yeah, it was that vegan, barista-looking dude who rides his bike to work every day and drinks craft beers. I can’t remember his name, but you know who I’m talking about, right?…” You’d immediately have an image in your head of what that person looks like.

To clarify, being vegan has nothing to do with how someone looks. Working as a barista has nothing to do with how someone looks. Riding your bike to work every day has nothing to do with how someone looks. And drinking craft beers has nothing to do with how someone looks. But, I’m guessing you’d picture a skinny white guy with a man-bun, who wears flannel shirts, brushes his beard, smells of patchouli, and wears tattered Vans.

The stereotypes are so strong and the classifications are so ubiquitous, it’s nearly impossible to avoid. But in Christ, there’s no distinction. We’re all being saved by God’s doing and we’re being built into a beautiful temple. It’s an incredible mystery that God is continuing to reveal, and that’s what we’ll continue to explore in the next entry.

Ephesians 1

Ever wonder why we’re here?

Being philosophically minded, I often wonder. And it’s not because my head is often in the clouds that I ask this question. Sometimes, it’s because my feet are so firmly on the earth, planted, but sinking. Sinking in the muck and mud. I mean, when you’re walking in the yard of life and you step in that big pile of dog crap. I mean, when you’re driving down the road and you hit that single nail or screw and your tire goes flat. I mean, you get the idea.

Sometimes, life just sucks. Sometimes it’s really difficult stuff. Sometimes it’s really annoying or frustrating stuff, petty, but annoying.

Last night, I had one of those. I fell asleep easily, but within a couple hours I was tossing and turning. Then I woke up to use the restroom and apparently that set of a chain of events for our dogs. Over the course of the next 5 hours, all three of our dogs made different pleas for food, to go outside, to play in the living room, etc. Finally at 5am this morning, one dog has whined enough, we’ve told her “no” enough, and we misinterpreted what she was whining about. We thought she wanted to go wrestle with the other dogs (which would result in the whole house waking up); instead, she needed to poop, which, since she couldn’t do outside, she did in our master closet. Terrible! Wretched! One of the worst alarm clocks you can imagine. The scent…arghh!

So… that’s how I woke up. And it makes me wonder why I’m here. Is it just to get dog crap cleaned up? Is it to do endless loads of laundry and dishes, work 8-10 hours a day for pay, then work the other 4-6 hours every evening taking care of kids, chores, and go to bed? Is it just to… exist?

It all seems so meaningless, so humdrum, so blah.

But there’s a verse in Ephesians 1 that gives me hope. And it’s a pleasant reminder on days like today:

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

In Christ. Each morning, when I go through my morning routine, I am re-centered. I am grounded again. Either Jesus is pulling me up out of the muck and mud and dog crap of life. Or, He is helping me get my head out of the clouds and back down to the reality that I need to meet today. In both instances, I’m incredibly grateful. Because in Him, I know who I am and what I’m living for.

He gives me purpose and meaning and identity.

And that fills the soul, every single day.

1 John (part 8)

As John brings his letter to a close, he says, “My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion.”

He doesn’t want you living in an illusion, thinking you have eternal life when you really don’t. And if you do have it, he wants you to experience the full reality of eternal life. Which begs the question…

What, then, is eternal life? I think there are a lot of misconceptions here, so let’s go out with a bang, shall we?!

Eternal: what a word! So much to unpack here, but I’ll keep it brief. Eternal can mean lasting or existing forever which is what most people think of when they consider this word. But it can also mean without beginning and without end. Timeless. Like being lost in the moment. Eternal can also mean unchanging. Valid and consistent. For all time, in all places.

So eternal life can be experienced in this life, in time and space, on this earth, and it may even exist beyond death, in a realm beyond what we can comprehend.

It would be a shame if we thought we were meant to life in misery this entire life just so we can enjoy a life after we die. We can enjoy this life, on this earth, right now. Full and abundant in our souls.

As John says, “This Jesus is both True God and Real Life.”

And with that, we’ll wrap 1 John and start a new book next week.

1 John (part 7)

In my first entry on 1 John, I shared the quote that God is light.

Here in chapter 4, John says, “God is love.”

So, if you’re a logician, you could set up a syllogism and try to confuse yourself:

  • God is light
  • God is love
  • Thus, light is love

Or, you could try:

  • God is love
  • God is light
  • Thus, love is light

I don’t know. And honestly, I’m not sure it matters that much. Is love light? Is light love? Is John even being literal here?

If John is being literal, then both of his declarations are beyond comprehension. If John is being figurative, which is much more likely, it’s comprehensible, but it’s incredibly difficult to explain. You can run with the metaphors, but it’s tough to know if or when they breakdown.

Perhaps, it would be helpful to look at the contrast. Instead, what if we say, “God isn’t darkness. God isn’t absence. God isn’t loneliness. God isn’t hate. God isn’t indifference. God isn’t isolation.”

Now, there is another thing John says here in chapter 4 that I wanted to draw attention to. John says, “There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear.“

Have you ever seen a dog afraid of its master? Have you ever seen a wife afraid of her husband? Have you ever seen a kid afraid of their dad? I’ve seen all of those. And I can assure you, in that relationship, there’s not love. There may be a form of respect, but it’s more like the submission of a slave to a master. There certainly isn’t love.

You may think I’m talking about the dog, the wife, or the kid not being able to love the dominant figure in that situation because he’s a jerk, and you’d be right. But I’m talking just as much about the dominant figure in that situation being unable to love the dog, the wife, or the kid. Why? Because love can never be controlling, domineering, overbearing, all authoritative and dictator-like. That person doesn’t love the dog, the wife, or the kid. That person loves himself. That person loves control, dominance, and feeling superior.

Aka, that person is drunk on their own pride.

And pride, my friends, is one of the things God will not tolerate. It’s one of the few things He directly opposes.

So be careful. If you can’t love the person you can see, how can you love the God you cannot see? Loving God includes loving people.

Now, we’re ready for chapter 5…

1 John (part 6)

Love.

Such a simple word and such a complex thing to understand. Three of my favorite authors & speakers have written whole books on love. Back in the day, the old classical author, CS Lewis, wrote The Four Loves. Then there’s a current one called Love Does by Bob Goff. And finally, there’s Love Wins by Rob Bell. Rob also wrote two other books called Sex God and The ZimZum of Love. Both of them cover sexuality and spirituality and how they’re intertwined.

If you want to check them out, here’s what I’d advise:

  • If you’re looking for a major intellectual analysis, go with CS Lewis. (He later wrote A Grief Observed and said that was his more heartfelt book on love, and on grief.)
  • If you’re looking for an inspiring and super practical book, read Bob Goff.
  • If you’re looking for relationship books that also connect the dots and get you thinking on a deeper level, go with Rob Bell.

But let’s get back to 1 John here for a second. John has written a letter (that only later was divided into 5 short chapters), and in it, he probably describes love more clearly and succinctly than any of the men mentioned above. Here in 1 John, he writes:

This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us.

It’s really simple. Christ, aka the Messiah, aka Jesus, aka the Son of God the Creator… stooped down to our world, subjected himself to our world, lived amongst us in this mess of our world….and sacrificed, offered, gave up… his life, his physical body, blood and all… for us.

That’s wild! And it’s so simple.

That is our supreme model of love. Of the four types of love in the original Greek language, this is the deepest love, the love that Jesus showed us, agape love. Agape love is an action. A verb. In relationship.

And in my best Forrest Gump voice, “That’s all I got to say about that!” 🙂

1 John (part 5)

I don’t want to belabor this point in every entry on 1 John, but I feel the need to address it again quickly because, well, John addresses it again. But once I address this first item, I’ll move on to another topic.

Here’s the first item: John makes it pretty clear that those who make a practice of sin are not of God. But those who make a practice of righteous deeds and good acts are from God. That isn’t to say anyone who follows Jesus is perfect. It’s that their habits, their lifestyle, their modus operandi is good acts, righteous living, fruits of the Spirit.

Now that we’re clear on that, let’s talk about love. Love is a topic that comes up again and again in the letter of 1 John. He writes,

For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.

Paul said it in his letters. Jesus said it in his ministry. The prophets said it in their proclamations. God said it in the Law, in Torah. So this isn’t a new message. It’s just saying it again, perhaps in a different or fresh way.

John says later that anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. To say it another way, love is what gives life meaning. Without love, life isn’t worth living.

And John is very clear that love isn’t a word, a noun, or some abstract concept. Love is a verb. It’s something that must be acted on. Love acts. Let’s not talk about it and theorize about it; let’s actually do it. Practice love.

As Bob Goff says, “Love does.”

How’s that look? We’ll explore that in the next entry.

1 John (part 4)

John has a pretty scathing critique when he comments on the state of our world. Here’s what John says:

Practically everything that goes on in the world–wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important–has nothing to do with the Father.

It’s pretty straight forward, but to put it in other words:

  • Wanting your own way= selfish / inconsiderate
  • Wanting everything for yourself= envy / jealousy
  • Wanting to appear important= status / worth from others

Of course, it’s easy to critique others and point the finger, “Yeah, people suck.”

But when I turn the mirror on myself, I realize I’m guilty of these same things, and I find myself falling prey to them more often than I’d like to admit.

So that’s why I share this, not to get on the “holier than thou” train, not to point the finger and say you suck or other people suck. But I share it because it’s worth the introspection and asking yourself how much of your life is spent pursuing these three things. Because these behaviors have one dead end: they just isolate you from God. Plain and simple.

And being isolated from God is not what any of us desire.