©2003 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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01/04/04 |
Hope For The Future Pt. 2 |
Ephesians 3:20-4:1 |
1/4/04 Hope For The Future Pt. 2
We left some things unfinished last week,
and I want us to pick up our study where we left off.
We are studying Paul’s letter to the Ephesians,
and our study has brought us to chapter 4.
But last week we backed up a few verses
and spent our time talking about the necessity
of seeing the first verse of chapter 4
in the context of the last two verses of chapter 3.
I know that may sound a little academic,
like some sort of schoolroom examination of a section of Biblical text,
and I assure you that is definitely not what we’re after here,
so let me see if I can help bring this back into where we live again.
The 4th chapter of Ephesians begins with Paul offering us a specific call to action,
a call in which he says,
EPH 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called...
And even without reading any farther in the text,
it is obvious that Paul is not talking with us
about some kind of an academic exercise.
He’s talking with us
about all the stuff that takes place in our lives each day,
all those choices we make in virtually every area of our lives.
He is calling us to bring our conduct in line
with our true identity in Christ.
I’ve always been fascinated by those police shows
in which a policeman or FBI agent goes undercover
and enters into the world of corruption he is secretly trying to destroy.
When those plots are done well,
there are always times when the one who has gone undercover
faces tremendous tension between his true identity as a policeman
and the corrupt pressures of the world in which he is living.
Now, of course, that parallel doesn’t work perfectly with us in our calling to walk in a manner worthy of our calling
because, unlike that policeman,
we do not have a clear understanding of our true identity as sons and daughters of the King.
But, even though our minds and emotions are frequently filled with confusion,
our spirits do know the truth,
creating deep within us a hunger and a thirst for a life pleasing to our Lord.
And, when that hunger collides with the corruption around us,
or even more, with the corruption still imbedded within our own minds and emotions,
the result is a tremendous tension between the two.
About 10:00 o’clock New Years morning
Sandee and I grabbed our refillable coffee cups
and headed down town for a coffee break together.
We live up on the top of Skyline Drive,
and there is one point at the top of that hill
where, on a clear day, you can look off to the left as you’re heading down
and see the most incredible view of Mt. Redoubt.
That particular morning the view of the mountain was a beautiful as I’d ever seen it
with the morning sun bathing the top of the mountain in brilliant shades of red.
I stopped the car for a minute or two
and we sat and looked at that mountain standing there,
doing so perfectly what it was designed to do -
praising, and glorifying, and magnifying it’s Creator.
It did it so flawlessly,
so effortlessly,
so powerfully.
And I wanted so much to be like that mountain,
to have my life, my very existence proclaim the majesty of my King with such clarity.
But then I took my foot off the brake and we drove on down the hill
and my mind once again plunged back into the little pile of frets,
and concerns,
and trivial pursuits I had allotted myself for the day,
and my tiny glimpse of reality was gone,
and from that point on
the degree to which what my spirit hoped for as I looked at that mountain
became a reality in my life
was directly dependant upon the degree to which I once again chose to remember
who I now am in Christ,
and who my God is,
and then made choices that were consistent with those truths.
For with us,
unlike with that mountain,
the course and quality of our lives
are profoundly impacted by the degree to which we choose each day
to aline ourselves with the truth.
And it is that tension that Paul is addressing
when he calls
us... to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which (we) have been
called...
But as we looked at this calling last week
we realized how crucial it is
that we keep this calling within the context in which it was written,
and especially within the context of the two verses that precede it.
The really difficult sin battles we face,
and those areas in
which we are clearly not walking in a manner worthy of the calling with
which you have been called,
exist within us not simply because we have failed to make the right choices here and there,
but rather they exist because they are being driven by a belief system within us
that is deeply rooted in the assumption
that our needs can only be met
or our pain can only be quieted
by living outside of God’s moral framework.
And once those lies are in place,
they result in powerful, addictive sin patterns.
And where those patterns exist,
any attempt to,
by sheer strength of will,
and self-discipline,
and determination,
create for ourselves a walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called
is destined for failure.
Only when we keep Paul’s comments locked into the context in which they were written,
and realize that 4:1 is not the beginning of the letter,
or even the beginning of the thought,
but recognize that it is directly linked to the two verses that come before it,
only then will his call to us in 4:1 become both a reasonable calling
and an achievable reality in our lives.
And we saw last week
that the correct context for this call to walk in a manner worthy
must include the last two verses of chapter 3.
EPH 3:20-4:1 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called...
In other words,
any attempt at true Christian living
that is not built upon the clear understanding of the recreative work of Christ within us
is destined to fail.
Now, that is about as far as we got last week,
but, of course we can’t stop there.
It’s great to proclaim that it is only the life of Christ within us
that can bring true, enduring transformation into our lives.
It’s great to know that
the way we can recognize when that is taking place
is through our hearts overflowing with praise and gratitude to our God
for what He has chosen to do in our lives.
But the real question we long to have answered
is to know just exactly how He goes about doing that.
How does Christ make those changes within us?
And what is our part in that process?
What is it we can do
to bring about that kind of healing?
I have been wrestling with these questions
first in my own life personally,
and then, as a Bible teacher,
from a teaching point of view
for more than 35 years now.
And the three biggest surprises I have encountered in this whole process
are first, how simple the transforming truths really are,
second, how difficult they are for us to grasp,
and, third, how easy they are for us to forget.
After all these years
I have finally made a grudging peace with the realization
that, nearly every day of my life,
when I close my eyes in sleep at night
I will once again forget those truths upon which my life with Christ is built,
and when I wake again each morning
I must consciously remind myself of them once again
and continually choose to operate upon them for the next 18 hours.
I certainly do not mean for that to be a discouraging statement.
I say it simply because
I know that, if we do not make peace with that process in our lives,
we can easily set ourselves up for a highly destructive self-condemnation
that God never intended as part of our life with Him.
If we buy into the belief that truths about our God,
and about the nature of His grace,
and about our identity as His children
can be learned as we once learned the multiplication tables as children,
we can quickly spiral into endless conversations with ourselves
in which we are forever pounding ourselves over the head
because we have once again forgotten this truth or that truth
and must discover it all over again.
Those of you who have listened to my approach to teaching for any length of time
know that I do not teach nor do I support the “law of daily devotions”
that seems to be so prevalent in much of the church world today.
It’s not usually presented as a “law” as such, of course,
but it might as well be,
given the force with which it is often presented.
Good Christians have daily devotions.
Good Christians read their Bibles every day.
If you’ve had your devotions then God is pleased with you,
and if you miss your “devotions” or your “quiet time” then He’s displeased.
I have never taught that and I never will for a number of reasons.
First of all,
I don’t teach it because our Lord didn’t teach it.
He did not say,
“A new commandment I give to you, that you have daily devotions.”
Second, I don’t teach it
because I believe the whole daily devotion concept as it is commonly taught in the church world
is rooted not in the life of Christ in us and through us,
but rather in that old religious nature within us that longs to believe
that there is something we can do that will improve our standing with God.
And third,
I don’t teach it because I know that if we are to have a truly productive relationship with the Word of God,
that relationship must be under the direct jurisdiction of His Spirit within us,
and only He can govern that relationship in the way
that is perfectly matched to our needs and His work within us at any given time.
Nothing is potentially more devastating to that ongoing process of the Spirit within us
than the introduction into our lives
of a religious law that tells us we must meet some daily devotional requirement
in order to maintain solid footing with our God.
Once that law is in place within us
our relationship to the written Word of God
will quickly degenerate into an endless cycle in which we feel good about ourselves if we have “had our devotions”
and we feel guilty if we have not.
If our heart is truly open to our Lord,
if we are not fighting Him or resisting Him at some point in our lives,
I guarantee that one of the many things His Spirit will do
is to create within us a hunger for
and a submission to His Word
that is perfectly matched to His ongoing work in our lives.
And if that trust, and hunger, and submission to the voice of our God is not present within us,
the last thing we need
is the perpetuation of some sort of daily religious routine
that allows us to hide from the real underlying unresolved issues in our relationship with our God.
But, having expressed my frustration with that whole religious “have-you-had-your-devotions-today?” mentality,
I need to go on to say that I have found it to be an essential part of my survival as God’s child
to consciously remind myself of the basics of my walk with Christ every single day.
I am willing to admit that this may be somewhat of a temperament thing with me,
because I do have a tremendous amount of melancholy in me,
but many mornings when I get up,
in fact, most mornings when I get out of bed
my mind and emotions have once again reverted back to my default melancholy outlook
in which everything and everyone looks rather bleak and hopeless.
I use to hate this about myself,
and wondered why the Lord had cursed me with such a morbid streak,
(we nearly always blame the Lord for those things we don’t like in our lives, don’t we?... GEN 3:12 The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."...)
but in recent years I have come to recognize it
as yet another tremendous affirmation of His kindness to me and His love for me
because every day it has made it essential that I once again choose to reaffirm the truth to myself.
Frequently that process begins with my quoting to myself Romans 5:1-2,
Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand...
Peace with God...
this grace in which I stand...
Just the basics -
this day, once again, I stand before my Lord in peace,
knowing His grace is sufficient for me,
knowing His love is certain,
knowing...
LAM 3:22-25 The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never
cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is His
faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I
have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person
who seeks Him.
OK, I can handle that.
I can face the next 18 hours on that basis.
Now, I know it may sound as if I’m sort of wandering around here,
avoiding the real “how-to” questions
that I promised I’d address today,
but the truth is
I’m not wandering nearly as much as it may seem.
I mentioned to you a few minutes ago
that my three greatest surprises in this whole area of the way in which our Lord brings about enduring changes into our lives
are first, how simple the transforming truths really are,
second, how difficult they are for us to grasp,
and, third, how easy they are for us to forget.
And let’s start with the first one,
and state it in a way that will very likely frustrate you to death.
All true life change within the believer
takes place not through God accomplishing a great work in our lives,
but rather through our recognizing and believing the great work He has already accomplished.
Shall I make it even more confusing?
All true change takes place
not through our successfully becoming who we need to be,
but rather through our discovering who we already are.
And maybe I can illustrate this best
by returning to some of those examples I shared with you last week.
A man feels insecure about himself as a man
and he desperately wants to find some way of proving to himself and to others
that he has value and importance in the male world.
What does he do?
First he selects his target audience,
perhaps a father who never gave him approval,
or some other man or group of men he thinks he can impress,
or possibly he simply selects his own mental image of what a “real man” should do or be.
From there
he then plunges into his desperate attempt to achieve the success he thinks he needs
in order to impress those he wants to impress
so that he can then, hopefully, find peace with himself.
If he thinks his target audience will be impressed with financial success,
he does whatever he has to do
to try to bring that about.
And if a little dishonesty,
or deception,
or outright theft seems like it will help the process,
then so be it!
OK now, on the surface we appear to have a man
who simply has a little problem with his business ethics.
But the truth is
the external conduct is simply a symptom
of the far greater issues of his own perception of himself.
Our actions,
our behavior is always ultimately simply an external expression
of our own self-perception.
I will act in a way that is consistent
with who I really believe I am.
So, how does God accomplish His healing program within us?
How does He go about bringing real, enduring change into our lives?
The first thing He does is to literally recreate us into new people at the deepest level of our being.
Scripture uses all sorts of language and images to communicate this to us.
You have been born again.
You are a new creation.
You have died and risen to new life in Christ.
You have been raised up with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places.
Your are now the holy ones of God.
Your are now a royal priesthood, a chosen nation, a people for God’s own possession.
Your are His ambassadors.
Your are a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
And on and on and on.
But underlying all the terms and phrases is the single purpose
of God seeking to communicate to us the truth,
that when we turned to Him through simple faith in Christ’s death for our sins,
although all we were hoping for was God’s forgiveness,
what we were granted was a total recreation of our being at the spirit level.
It is the existence of that recreated spirit within you
that gives you that longing to reach out to God right now.
Then, once that recreative work has been accomplished within us,
the next thing God does
is to seek to reshape our minds,
to reshape the way we think about ourselves into conformity with the truth.
That’s what Paul is talking about
when he says,
ROM 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of
God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
With that corrupt Christian business man in our example,
the real healing he needs in his life
will come as he is able to hear his God saying to him,
“My son, do not cling to those around you in a futile attempt to find some human voice who will give you proof of your value, your worth.
The voice you need to hear is Mine.
I formed you exactly the way I wanted you to be from the instant of your conception.
You are my precious son, unique in all the world,
and I love you with an everlasting love.
I have equipped you for exactly the roles I have for you to fulfill in this world,
and I have designed for you your own special kingdom over which you will have jurisdiction.
Listen carefully to Me
and let Me alone tell you who you are,
and why you are here,
and where you will find the significance and fulfillment you long for.”
You see,
the healing begins first by the recreative work
that God has already accomplished within us.
But it begins to be a living reality
only as we listen carefully to Him about the truth of what has already taken place in our lives.
And the only way we will ever be able to walk in a manner worthy of our calling
is when that walk grows out of a clear and growing knowledge
of who we have already become in Christ.
We are out of time and still only part way through what I want to share with you
so we’ll pick it up here again next week.
I think we’ll spend at least some of our time next week
looking at those things that prevent this healing process
from becoming a growing reality in our lives.
Obviously, it is in no way an automatic result of our union with Christ,
and it is not at all uncommon for Christians to live their entire lives
finding very little freedom.
I think it will be helpful to spend some time looking at what causes that to happen.