The Grace Parade

Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men" (Eph 4:8). 

Ever been to a victory parade?  I'm not talking about some lame small town homecoming hoo-ha with rinky dink floats and out of tune bands.  I'm talking about one of those citywide we-are-the-champions celebrations to shower the local team with applause and ticker tape.  Yeah, THAT kind of victory parade!  Well, Paul lets us know that there's an even bigger bash to come.  And we're invited.  There's gonna be a parade that will dwarf the combined celebrations of the Tournament of Roses, Mardi Gras, Carnivale and the St. Patrick's Day scene from "Ferris Bueller."

"Therefore it says, 'When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men'" (v8).  It's a crazy scene.  Wild cheers.  Ticker tape.  Loud music.  It's the ultimate victory celebration.  And there's the Hero!  It's our Savior!!  Jesus WINS!!!  And that's not all, He's giving away gifts along the way.  No, these aren't cheap beads or handfuls of penny candy.  He's handing out spiritual gifts to His followers.  

Welcome to the Grace Parade.

Here in this letter to his friends back in Ephesus, Paul uses a passage from the Old Testament to illustrate what he's just written to them.  He reaches back into David's greatest hits album and pulls out Ps 68:18.  Think of it as a divinely inspired cover.  King David originally composed this tune to celebrate the capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites (2Sam 6-7; 1Chr 13).  The lyrics describe how God ascended to the top of Mt. Zion in victory.  Paul sees these lines from the original song as singing out Jesus' heavenly ticker tape parade after His once-and-for-all defeat of sin and death at Calvary.  The apostle tells the Corinthians that we're right behind our victorious Savior in the parade (2Cor 2:14).  

From the joint in Rome, the man from Tarsus desperately wants us to know that Jesus is victorious.  No matter what may come our way on this side of eternity, Jesus WINS!!!  Don't listen to the lies.  Don't listen to the naysayers.  Don't listen to the doubters.  Jesus WINS!!!  It's our Savior's ultimate victory that empowers Paul while he rots in a Roman prison.  When we're in doubt or when life has punched us in the throat, remember this: Jesus WINS!!!

We get a glimpse of the crazy celebration at the Grace Parade over in Paul's letter to the folks in Colossae.  He describes how the demonic enemies bring up the rear behind Jesus  (Col 2:15).  The ultimate walk of shame.  Satan and his toadies can no longer torment God's people.  Christ has stripped them of their weapons.  Jesus WINS!!!

Meanwhile, back over in Ephesians, Paul quotes David, "He led a host of captives" (v8).  The Greek verb here is aichmaloteuo.  It means to capture in battle and take prisoners of war.  It's technical term used in the military.  Taking POWs.  But something kinda funky is happening in the original text.  The apostle repeats himself by using the noun version of the verb he just used: aichmalosia.  It describes the state of being taken as a POW and kept captive, a prisoner of war or a captive multitude.  What might seem like goofy English actually is great Greek.  This is not from the Department of Redundancy Department.  This grammar emphasizes the vast number of the prisoners taken.  You could actually translate this phrase "He led captivity captive" or "He led POWs as POWs."  But the idea here is that Jesus leads a massive number of prisoners in this victory parade.  There aren't just a couple of captives.  There's an endless number of losers bringing up the rear.  Jesus WINS!!!

Let's not miss the point about what's going on BEFORE the big Grace Parade.  We're in a war.  We're under attack.  But there's no doubt of the outcome.  The good guys win.  If you have any doubt about it, go ahead and flip to the end of the book.  Check out Revelation.  Jesus WINS!!!  You can take His victory to the bank.  It's a lead-pipe lock.  In the meantime, our enemy is still trying to cause as much harm as he can.  Just because Satan's troops have lost doesn't mean they can't cause trouble.  But know without at doubt that Jesus WINS!!!  And there's going to be a parade.  A BIG parade.  The Grace Parade.

Let's check out our victorious Hero back at the front of celebration.  Paul tells us that "He gave gifts to men" (v8).  He's simply restating what he just said.  Jesus is the God who just keeps giving (Eph 4:7).  While the ticker tape flutters down, Christ tosses out His gifts back to us.  These aren't baubles from the dollar store.  He's giving out gifts of countless value.  We find out in a couple of verses that these are spiritual gifts of leadership that He passes on to the church for our growth and maturity (Eph 4:11-13).  Even at the Grace Parade in His honor, Jesus gives.  You simply cannot out-give God.  You can't.  Not possible.  Give Him praise.  He gives gifts.

It's called the Grace Parade.

One God. One Dad. And He's ALL That!

One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Eph 4:6).

All alone in a dark Roman dungeon, the Apostle Paul paints a fabulous portrait of the unity of the Godhead and His church.  With a crystal clear picture of who He is, what He's done and the unbreakable bond we have in Him, there's absolutely nothing can tear us apart.  In Ephesians 4:4-6, he explodes in wonder over how the Father, Son and Spirit are completely integrated and intertwined with the church.  The man from Tarsus has already introduced two Members of the Trinitarian starting lineup: the Spirit (Eph 4:4) and the Lord Jesus (Eph 4:5).  Last but not least, he announces the third Member: "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (v6).  

In one flick of his pen, Paul goes from distant and omnipotent God over the universe to intimate and loving Dad in the home.  Not one OR the other.  He's both.  God is the ultimate sovereign deity ruling and reigning over His creation.  And He's also the caring and personal Dad who we can run to when we need Him.

One God.  One Dad.  He’s ALL that!

Throughout this entire passage, Paul repeatedly uses one word.  "One."  Seven times.  This is the little Greek word heis.  It means one only, a single one or a certain one.  The apostle doesn't want his Ephesian friends to forget that we worship "one God" (v6).  A single God.  God, the One and Only.  

The writers of both the OT and NT make it VERY clear that there is one and only one God.  This is the idea of monotheism.  It's kind of a big deal.  OK, it's a REALLY BIG DEAL!  Don't believe me?  Let's drop in on the Israelites just after God sprung them from pulling a 400 year shift as slaves in Egypt.  Fresh back from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments hot off the presses, Moses announces to God's people, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Dt 6:4). God, the One and Only.  Jesus backs that up when challenged one which one of God's commands is the most important (Mk 12:29).  God, the One and Only.  King David prays, "There is none like You, and there is no God besides You" (2Sam 7:22; 2Chr 17:20).  God, the One and Only.  David even writes a song about it, "You alone are God" (Ps 86:10).  God, the One and Only.  And the list goes on and on and on and on: Dt 4:35; 32:39; Ps 83:18; Is 43:10; 44:6; 45:14, 18; 46:9; 1Cor 8:4-6.  God, the One and Only.

But our one and only God is not some distant deity who cranked up His creation and headed off on a long vacation.  He's our "Father" (v6).  He's intimately involved with caring for you and me.  He becomes our heavenly Dad when we place our trust in His Son Jesus.  It was Jesus' talk of God as His Dad that got Him in hot water with religious muckity mucks of the day.  All the top Jews hit the ceiling when this crazy talking Carpenter from the boondocks claimed Yahweh was His Father.  And Jesus took this idea of God as Father even further when He taught His crew to pray to their heavenly Dad (Mt 6:9).  The First Member of the Trinity is not just Jesus' Dad but our Dad too!  Just as our Big Brother called His Dad by the intimate nickname "Abba" (Mk 14:36), so can we (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6).  He's our Dad, the One and Only. 

One God.  One Dad.

Then Paul writes a phrase that seems, well, kinda weird.  He tells us that God is the "Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (v6).  I don't know about you, but that's a little tough for me to wrap my tiny brain around.  Clearly, the key word is "all."  The apostle pulls the trigger on his machine gun and fires it off four times.  This is the Greek adjective pas.  It describes the totality of something, the entirety, the complete number or amount.  Everyone.  Everything.  Absolute.  The highest degree.  

The dude from Tarsus contrasting our singular, one and only God and Father with the totality of His intimate presence and involvement with His church and His creation.  Over how much of the universe does God rule over?  Every last inch.  Throughout how much of the universe is God involved?  Every last inch.  In how much of the universe is God present?  Every last inch.  Think of it this way.  Take a look around.  Our All Over God has His divine fingers in every bit of what you see.  The sky.  The stars.  The grass.  Your neighborhood.  Your workplace.  Your home.  All of it. 

One God.  One Dad.  He’s ALL that!

This isn't the only time Paul mentions this idea.  "Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist" (1Cor 8:6).  And in some of the last words he wrote before his own execution, the apostle wanted his buddy Tim to know the critical importance our one and only God.  "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus" (1Tim 2:5).

He is the sovereign God high above His creation.  He is our loving and intimate Father.  Not one or the other.  He's both.  

One God.  One Dad.  And He’s ALL that!

One Boss. One Trust. One Drenching.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5).

Focus.  Tunnel vision.  Here in this incredible description of what it means to follow Jesus, Paul tells us to put on the blinders and only consider what is truly important (Eph 4:4-6).  I don't know about you, but I'm easily distracted.  You what I'm talking about, don't you?  Once a bright, shiny object catches my attention, I'm gone.  I can be deep in prayer, passionately calling out to the King of kings and then "look, a bird!"  I need focus.  I need blinders.  I need tunnel vision.  The apostle sets our scope on three key focal points.  "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (v5).

One Boss.  One trust.  One drenching.  Don't be fooled by imitators.  Don't fall for counterfeits.  

First we see "One Lord" (v5).  We meet the Second Person of the Trinity here in this passage.  Jesus.  Paul mentions the Spirit in Ephesians 4:4.  And the Father is right around the corner in verse 6.  While you can't find the word "Trinity" anywhere in the Bible, the idea is everywhere.  And this is one of them.  Father.  Son.  Holy Spirit.  Three "Whos."  One "What."  Complete and perfect community.  So close.  So intimate.  It's impossible to pull them apart or separate them.  Jesus was, is and always will be a member of the most exclusive club in the universe.  The Godhead.

Paul uses the word "Lord" or Greek noun kurios.  Aren't you just the least bit "kurios" what it means?  Oh my bad.  That was terrible, wasn't it?  Sorry 'bout that.  Anyway, this is the word we see all throughout the New Testament that literally means master, controller, owner, one with authority, one who commands or one with power.  This is the person who decides.  This is the person in charge.  This is Jesus.

When we place our faith in Christ, we don't just buy the fire insurance.  We don't simply say, "Thank you, Jesus.  I've got it from here.  Appreciate keeping me out of that nasty eternal torment.  Check Ya later."  When we trust in Jesus, we trust in His leadership of our lives.  He's our Lord.  He's the Boss.  He's the Controller.  He's the Master.  He's the Owner.  He's NOT our Co-Pilot.  In the words of the great philosopher and theologian Carrie Underwood, "Jesus, take the wheel!"  He's in charge.  He's our "one Lord" (v5).  He's our one Boss.

So do you do what He says?  Do you obey His commands?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  But that's what He's calling us to do.  He told His posse that our obedience is His love language (Jn 14:15, 21, 23).  Here's the amazing thing about following God's commands.  Jesus did it perfectly.  He's the sinless Lamb of God.  When we trust in His complete obedience, He saves us from our disobedience.  We can't save ourselves.  I don't know about you, but I can't follow the rules for 5 minutes, much less for my entire life.  I'm SO blown away that I can trust in His perfection.

By trusting in Jesus as my boss, we're trusting that He knows best.  He knows what we NEED.  Notice how I didn't say "what we WANT."  Christ loves us.  Wants God's best for us.  He sees what we don't.  He knows what we don't.  Let's trust Him to lead and guide us.  No matter what.  He's our one Master.  He's our one Controller.  He our one Boss.  He's our "one Lord" (v5).

Our next focal point is "one faith" (v5).  These two little words are jam packed with tremendous truth.  This is the Greek word pistis, which means trust, belief, conviction, reliance, assurance and confidence.  First of all, there is the trust and reliance in Jesus and Jesus alone to save us.  Paul is NOT talking about the strength of MY faith.  (Sorry about screaming with all the CAPS but this is REALLY important.  Oops, did it again.)  He's talking about the strength of the Object of our faith.  Strong faith in a weak object is pointless.  Weak faith in a strong object is powerful.  There's no stronger object of our faith than Jesus.

By referring to "one faith" (v5), Paul is making sure we know that Jesus is the only means of salvation.  Jesus Himself said that He is "THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me" (Jn 14:6).  I'm sorry to report that all many roads do NOT lead to God.  If that's what you believe, you might want to get a new GPS.  There's only one way.  There's only "one faith" (v5).  It's Jesus.  Trusting who He is.  Trusting in what He's done.  Period. 

And don't miss the point that there's "one faith" for everybody.  Jews.  Gentiles.  The working class.  The aristocracy.  Every ethnicity.  Every culture.  Every level of society.  "One faith."  Same Jesus for all.  That was a REALLY big deal for the church in Ephesus.  It was a real jambalaya for Jesus.  Folks from all around the known world coming to trust in the radical and resurrected Rabbi from Nazareth.  One trust.

Have you placed your sole trust in Jesus and what He did for you?  Are you still trying to save yourself?  Stop.  Relax.  Place your "one faith" in Him.  One size fits all no matter who you are, what you've done and where you're from.  One trust.

Our next focal point is "one baptism" (v5).  Paul uses the term baptisma.  The problem is that this word has become so "churchified."  Sorry to use such deep theological terminology.  Let's peel back a few centuries and see what it originally meant to the folks back in Ephesus.  Immersion, submersion or an overwhelming by something.  Something completely dunked.  Something going all the way under.

Paul could be talking about a believer being baptized in water as a profession of placing their trust in who Jesus is and what He's done.  An outward expression of what God has already done on the inside.  If he is writing about water baptism, we need to know something about the common use of the word back in the first century.  The original Greek term described what happened when a ship sank into the sea, Titanic style.  We also find it in ancient recipes that call for pickling a cucumber by immersing it completely in the brine.  I just can't squint hard enough to make see sprinkling as the biblical means of baptism.  You get soaked.  You get dunked.  You go all the way under.  Change John the Baptizer to John the Dunker.  

But the apostle could also be talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit when we come to faith in Jesus.  Some of our Pentecostal and charismatic friends believe there's a second baptism by the Spirit that enables us to speak in tongues.  IF Paul's writing about that Spirit drenching at conversion, there seems to be only one.  I personally think that IS what he's talking about.  We don't see God's Spirit showing up for a second dunking anywhere in the NT.  That doesn't mean the Third Person of the Trinity doesn't fill us when we get out of the way.  Paul encourages his Ephesian friends to stop hitting the sauce and "be filled with the Spirit" (Eph 5:18).  It happened to Pete (Acts 4:8).  But God's Spirit only dunks us in His goodness that one time.  "One baptism" (v5).  One drenching.

Hope Is Calling You Out!

There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call (Eph 4:4).

You don't recognize the number.  But you answer anyway.  Boy, are you glad you did.  It's hope.  But not just some random hope.  It's THE hope.  Yeah, THAT hope.  Paul reminds us, "There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call" (v4).  God has called you.  And not just you.  He's called a crew of folks to be part of His body.  He's called people from every ethnic group, culture and social status to come together in His Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church.  Aren't you glad you answered?

Hope is calling you out.

Alone in a dark Roman dungeon, the apostle wants us to know that we're not flying solo in our faith.  Hop down off your horse, Kemosabe.  There are no Lone Rangers when it comes to following Jesus.  Church is a team sport.  As a matter of fact, Paul wants his readers to understand the mind-blowing oneness and unity that results from God's call on our lives.  The Trinity is a powerful picture of the kind of wholeness and solidarity we're to have.  The Father, Son and Spirit are three "Whos" and one "What."  But you can't pry them apart.  They are THAT close.  God is calling us to be His body.  Many "whos" that form one "what."  In his letter to his friends in Rome, the dude from Tarsus wrote about how Jesus brings us together to be His hands and feet to a lost and dying world.  "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another" (Rom 12:5).  God calls us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.  We'll never be alone.  He'll never ditch me or turn His back on me.  And as a member of His body, I have folks who'll scoop me up when we I can do it myself.  

Are you you trying fly solo?  Stop it.  Land the plane.  That's not what God had in mind.  Way back in the beginning of His story He said that human loneliness is a bad thing (Gen 2:18).  Come together.  Right now.  Over Him.  Get into community with other folks who are following Jesus.  Yeah, I know.  Churches are jacked up.  Well, I've got news for you.  They're ALL jacked up.  Every last one of them.  That's because they're full of jacked up sinners like you and me.  But despite its flaws and failings, the local church is THE body of Jesus.  Christ uses His body to show His love to the people in the community.  So, get over yourself.  Hope is calling you to get back into community.  "You were called in one body" (Col 3:15).  The folks there need you.  You need them.

Hope is calling you out.

Paul makes it clear that there is just "one Spirit" (v4).  Don't be fooled by imitators.  There are certainly other spirits but only one Holy Spirit.  Did you know there's a way to test and see if a spirit really is His Spirit?  The Apostle John clues us in on the fact that "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God" (1Jn 4:1-2).  If someone or something causes you and me to doubt the fact that Jesus is truly fully God and fully Man, then we don't want anything to do with them.  Those spirits are agents of our enemy.  Can I be straight up?  They're demons!  There's just ONE Spirit.  And He's come to fill and empower the local church to pour out the grace of God to people who have lost hope.

Hope is calling you out.

But there IS hope.  And hope is calling.  "You were called to the one hope that belongs to your call" (v4).  Ready for a little Greek lesson?  Well, here it comes anyway.  Twice in this verse Paul uses a form of the verb kaleo.  It means to summon, invite, provide a name, designate or call together for a purpose.  In the story about the big wedding, Jesus describes how the master sent his out to invite (Gr. kaleo) folks to the shindig (Mt 22:3).  In a legal sense, people use the term to summon people to appear in court (Acts 4:18).  But over and over again, biblical writers use this verb as a way to explain God's invitation to salvation in general (Mt 4:21; 2Th 2:14; 1Pet 2:9) or a specific task (Heb 5:4).

These words in this verse are VERY similar to the word we translate "church" or ekklesia, which means the "called out ones."  Jesus has called you and me to know the hope that's only found in a relationship with Him.  He's invited us.  He's summoned us.  He's calling us to a bigger purpose.  He's calling us to the ULTIMATE purpose.  

Hope is calling you out.

We need to stop thinking about the church as some sort of Christian bomb shelter where we can close our selves off from the rest of the nasty ol' world.  Jesus is calling us OUT!  He's inviting us to invite others to the hope that can only be found in Him.  There is only one hope.  Jesus.  He is Hope Personified (1Tim 1:1).  He's THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life (Jn 14:6).  We can't let others know about that hope if we're quivering in fear behind the locked doors of our fallout shelter from sin.  Jesus is calling us out!  Jesus is calling us to take His message of grace and hope out to people everywhere (Mt 28:19-20).

Hope is calling you out.

This Is a Holdup!

...with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love (Eph 4:2).

During a robbery, criminals steal everything of value they can get their grubby little hands on.  Smash and grab.   Take.  Take!  TAKE!!  But Paul’s describing a completely different kind of holdup here.  This caper is not about taking but giving.  This holdup is to be executed “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love” (v2).  Humility.  Gentleness.  Patience.  Love.  No taking.  Only giving.  

This is a holdup!

Before we examine the crime scene, let’s back up just a bit.  Paul is teaching us how to walk all over again.  He’s writing to his friends back in Ephesus about what it looks like to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph 4:1).  From his cell in Rome, the apostle has spent the first three chapters letting us know just who Jesus is, what He’s done, who we were before He saved us and who we are in Christ.  To jump right into the commands that begin here in this chapter without the proper perspective would be simply brutal.  To try to obey these orders without Jesus is just legalism.  That’s what folks call salvation by works.  Not only is it exhausting and oppressive, it’s absolutely impossible!!  That’s why Paul’s letters to the churches begin by a glorious portrait of that radical and risen Rabbi from Nazareth.  

Once you and I see Jesus for who He really is, it changes how we see everything.  Ourselves.  Others.  Our place in life.  Our work.  That’s specifically important to Paul because he’s trying to inoculate the Ephesian church against a nasty heresy that’s making the rounds.  A false gospel of self-salvation has done a lot of damage in churches just down the road in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis.  The apostle knows that once we take a long, deep look at Jesus, we won’t be fooled by counterfeits.

Meanwhile, back at the holdup.  This becomes obvious when we examine the evidence at the scene.  Check out the phrase “bearing one another in love” (v2).  The Greek verb here is anechomai.  While you can translate this to mean to endure, it’s more than that.  To sustain, lift up, hold up under possible difficulty, give patient attention to, endure with self-restraint.  When we live life with other folks, we truly need support from each other.  We can’t do it alone.  We sustain each other.  We lift up each other.  We hold each other up when times are tough.  So it’s a holdup.  But not THAT kind of a holdup.  We don’t take.  We give.

This is a holdup!

Can we be brutally honest?  Good.  Life with other Christians is messy, frustrating and often infuriating.  While you would hope that living around folks who’ve submitted to the leadership of Jesus would be all rose petals and rainbows, it’s far from it.  People still lie.  People still cheat.  People still sin.  And that’s just the way it’s gonna be on this side of eternity.  Jesus has saved me and placed me in a church with a motley crew of knuckleheads, morons, idiots and weirdos.  And they’re thinking the same about me!!!  That’s EXACTLY why we need endure each other.  We need to be patient with each other.  Life is a big steaming pile a lot of the time.  Let’s lift each other up.

Paul makes it clear that this holdup is done “in love” (v2).  That’s the self-giving, self-sacrificing, put-others-first-and-me-last love.  Agape love.  Over in his letter to the church in Colossae, the apostle wraps up a list of the wardrobe each believer must wear.  And there’s one final and important accessory.  “Above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14).  As love bandits, we don’t take.  We give.

This is a holdup!

So what kind of evidence do we find at the scene?  The first is humility.  The original text uses the word tapeinophrosune.  You don’t find this noun anywhere outside of the New Testament.  Chances are Paul coined the term himself because there was no other word in the Greco-Roman culture that described the kind of humble attitude found among Jesus’ followers.  It’s actually a mashup of two other Greek words: “low” (Gr. tapeino-) “mind” (Gr. -phrosune).  We’re called to lift each other up by lowliness of mind.  This is modesty, having a humble opinion of one’s self, a deep sense of one’s moral littleness, a quality of voluntary submission and unselfishness and a complete lack of arrogance.  I can’t lift someone up when I’m fighting to be on top.  I can only support them when I’m underneath.  

God calls us to humility.  He calls us to a “low mind.”  “In humility (Gr. tapeinophrosune) count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil 2:3).  Humility is an essential part of the ensemble the apostle lists over in Colossians (Col 3:12).  There’s an old country song called “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble.”  Truer words have never been spoken.  It is VERY hard to be humble.  But Jesus did it (Phil 2:5-8).  And He did it for you and me.  The other important aspect about humility is what happens when we fail to get down off our high horse.  “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1Pet 5:5).  Anytime God is my enemy, I’m gonna lose every single, stinking time.

The next piece of evidence at the scene is “gentleness” (v2).  This means meekness, mildness, gentle friendliness, strength that accommodates another’s weakness and considerateness.  Let’s be VERY clear about something.  Paul is not telling you to be a wuss.  He’s not commanding you to be a wimp.  He’s not demanding you to be a doormat.  He knows the tremendous power that lives inside of you: the Holy Spirit (Col 3:16).  This very same source of mind-boggling energy who “raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).  We need to remember to not bulldoze those around us with the power of God that dwells in each one of us.  We must accommodate the weakness of those around us.  Strength under control.  Paul lists this trait in the fruit of Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (Gr. praotes), self control; against such things there is no law” (Gal 5:22-23).  Notice the combination of gentleness and self-control as next door neighbors.  That’s no coincidence.  Gentleness is strength under control.

The next piece we see at the scene is “patience” (v2).  This is another compound Greek word: makrothumia.  “Far off” (Gr. makro-) “burning anger” (Gr. -thumia).  Think of a long fuse.  A fire in the distant future.  It describes longsuffering, endurance, steadfastness and perseverance.  Numerous times in the Old Testament, folks praise God for long fuse.  “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6).  We see it again in Num 14:18; Ps 86:15; Jer 15:15.  As God remakes us into the image of His Son, He’s giving us a long fuse too.  

I have to be transparent here.  Too many times, my apparent humility is just a front.  I want to My gentleness is really just passive aggressiveness.  And I have very little patience in most cases.  I quit on people.  I give up on them.  There’s been some improvement.  But it’s been frustratingly slow.  But Jesus has shown me so much humility, so much gentleness, so much patience.  He’s held me up in His divine, self-giving love.  And He’s used His church to do it too.

There’s been a holdup.

Walk This Way

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Eph 4:1).

Johnny Cash walked the line.  Dione Warwick walked on by.  Dewey Cox walked hard.  Paul of Tarsus encourages his friends back in Ephesus instructions on how to walk as followers of Jesus.  "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (v1).  From the joint in Rome, he reminds them of what Jesus has done for them, what He’s called them to and urges them to get stepping.  Two thousand years before Aerosmith rocked their biggest hit, the apostle prompts the Ephesians to walk this way.

Walk worthy.  Walk called.  Walk this way.

For the second time in this letter, Paul reminds his readers of his zip code.  Rome.  Prison.  He’s doing hard time waiting for Caesar to hear his appeal.  The former Pharisee ticked off Jewish leaders by switching teams.  At one point, he’s heading up a black ops squad that hunts down Christians.  But something crazy happened on his mission to Damascus.  Suddenly, the dude they knew as Saul doesn’t just go AWOL but becomes one of the leaders of the Way.  That’s the nickname folks have given the followers of the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth.  

As far as the Sanhedrin was concerned, it was bad enough that Paul believed Jesus is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews.  But now he’s going around telling Gentiles that Jesus is inviting they’re invited into God’s kingdom.  That made the apostle public enemy number one to Jewish leaders.  They made a boatload of false accusations against him that landed in the slammer.  Paul reminds his readers that to walk worthy of Jesus’ calling on his life is no walk in the park.  Despite what some teach, following Jesus isn’t a life full of moonbeams, unicorns and rainbows.  Walking worthy means taking a stand for Jesus.  Walking called means telling others the Good News even when they don’t think it’s very good.  Walking this way can be very costly.

Walk worthy.  Walk called.  Walk this way.

Let’s back up that word “therefore.”  As the old saying goes, anytime you’re reading the Bible and see “therefore,” you need ask what is it there for.  This is the little Greek word oun.  It means consequently, accordingly, these things being so or for this reason.  In other words, this is the hinge on which the entire letter turns. Paul's spent the first three chapters gushing over God, all that He has done and where we were before Jesus jumped in to save the day. As a result of all that He has done, let's do this. In the light of all that He will do, let's do this. As Tullian Tchividjian says time and time again, everything we we need we already have in Jesus. That being so, let's live that way. Let’s walk this way.

The apostle does this in just about everyone of his letters.  He spends a huge part of them reminding his readers of this amazing God who’s graciously gone dumpster diving to save us.  He works his tail off to step back and take a long, breathtaking look at Jesus.  As the writer of Hebrews says (and many believe that to be Paul as well), look “to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2).  Christ lived the perfect life that we failed to live.  He died the brutal death for sin that we should have died.  He rose to a glorious new life that we don’t deserve.  He did for us what we could NEVER do for ourselves!  We place our trust in what He did.  We’re certainly not worthy of any of that.  But out of worship, gratitude and love, I can “walk in a manner worthy of the calling” (v1).

Walk worthy.  Walk called.  Walk this way.  

Let's look at it from another perspective. The facts drive the actions. Who Jesus is propels what we do. The indicative drives the imperatives. Because of the truth we see in Ephesians 1-3, we're empowered to live lives "worthy of the calling" (v1).  Flip back over to the Tsunami of Blessing (Eph 1:3-14). He chose us. He predestined us. He adopted us. He redeemed us. He forgave us. He lavished us with His grace. He revealed His purpose to us in Jesus. He sealed us with His Holy Spirit. He guaranteed us a divine inheritance.  At this point, Paul moves from who Jesus is and what He's done to how we are to live in light of that truth. Because of that, do this.

Walk worthy.  Walk called.  Walk this way.

Paul uses similar language over his letter to the Colossians.  That certainly makes perfect sense.  He wrote both of these epistles in the same sitting from his cell.  First, the apostle fired of his letter of correction to the churches in Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea.  A team of false teachers rolled into the region and duped Jesus’ followers into believing that He might have been very good but He wasn’t very God.  Using scriptural slight of hand, they fooled folks into thinking that Christ might have saved them but it’s up to each one of us to stay saved.  According to these spiritual snake oil salesmen, we do that by following a complicated list of religious rules, dietary laws and holidays (Col 2:16-23).  

Once he heard about this heresy and the damage being done in the church, the apostle can’t start writing fast enough.  He reminds them of who Jesus is.  He tells the Colossians that he never stops praying for them “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him” (Col 1:10).  Later he says that we need to walk properly because of what Christ has done.  “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col 2:6).

Walk worthy.  Walk called.  Walk this way.

After finishing Colossians, the apostle writes a very similar letter to his friends in Ephesus.  Think of Colossians as a remedy for the heretical disease.  Ephesians is the vaccine that will prevent it from spreading to the church that’s just 100 miles down the road.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul uses many of the same phrases and ideas.  

I constantly have to remind myself that I can’t just read the Bible.  I must let the Bible read me.  That leads to the very difficult question: Do I walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which I have been called?  At times, yes.  But not often enough.  I continually fall short of loving God and loving people.  And I will certainly fail to do so on this side of eternity as I wrestle with my sin and disobedience.  But Jesus has given me the power to obey.  He’s given me the power to walk worthy.  He’s given me the power to walk called.  I’ve been “strengthened with the power through His Spirit” (Col 3:17).  Christ has moved into my heart and made Himself at home (Col 3:18).  Despite that supernatural power source, I fail to walk this way.  

That’s where repentance comes into play.  A HUGE part of Jesus’ Gospel is realizing that it didn’t just save me once, it keeps saving me.  Let me live a life of repentance.  Let me humbly understand that I need Jesus every single day.  Every single hour.  Every single minute.  Every single second.  I can walk worthy by walking in repentance.

Walk worthy.  Walk called.  Walk this way.

The Eternal Standing O

To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen (Eph 3:21).

Ever been part of a crowd that just kept cheering and didn't want to go home?  Your team has just won the big game and the celebration just won't stop.  The audience begs the band to return for an encore.  The crowd goes wild!  The applause doesn't end!  That's nothing compared to the ovation God deserves for who He is, what He's done and what He's gonna do.  "To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen" (v21).  Paul says that God alone rates such adulation.

Only God deserves the eternal standing O.  Props that don't stop.

So what's caused the apostle to jump out of his seat and cheer God all of the sudden?  He's just finished asking the Lord an outlandish request and knows He'll come through.  Paul has prayed that God would fill up his Ephesian friends with His unlimited supernatural strength so they could comprehend the incomprehensible love of Jesus (Eph 3:14-19).  He explodes in praise because he knows God has the resources to pull off such a big ask.  As a matter of fact, our minds can't begin to imagine the kind of overwhelming goodness of which He's capable (Eph 3:20).

From the big house in Rome, Paul works his tail off to get the folks back in Ephesus to see Jesus for who He is and know that everything they need they already have in Him.  He's inoculating this church against a nasty heresy that's making the rounds.  A counterfeit gospel has infected churches just down the road in towns like Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea.  A group of spiritual snake oil salesmen have duped folks into believing good news that's really no good at all.  Through some shifty spiritual slight of hand, they've convinced Jesus' followers that He might have been good but He's not quite God.  He may have gotten us into God's kingdom, but it's up to us to stay in.  We have to finish what He started by following a complicated list of religious rules, holidays and dietary laws (Col 2:16-23).

After firing off a letter to the multisite church based in Colossae, Paul writes another note to the Ephesian church.  He knows that when they understand the mind-blowing blessings we have in Jesus (Eph 1:3-14), they'll give God every bit of praise.  When our eyes are locked on Jesus and we give Him the glory, we're too busy to fall for any cheap imitations.  And once we're on our feet, we won't sit down.

Only God deserves the eternal standing O.  Props that don't stop.

God's forever glory is a mega-theme throughout the Bible.  He's to get all the applause for all time.  Scripture is chockfull of what smart dudes in ties call doxologies.  There's a little problem for when I hear the word doxology.  It takes me back to my days growing up the baptist church.  The doxology was that part of the service when the ushers carried the brass plates full of offering envelopes down the center aisle and we all stood to sing a song without using the hymnal.  That droning dirge we sang was the "Doxology."  So when I see or hear the word doxology, that's what comes to mind.

We get the term from the original language in places like v21.  When he mentions "glory," Paul uses the Greek word doxa.  It means splendor, grandeur, praise and honor.  It's the breathtaking and remarkable presence of something (or Someone!) spectacular.  In the OT, the idea of glory is synonymous with weight.  Think of it this way.  To give God glory is to recognize the full weight of who He is.  As Jonathan Edwards says, His glory is the fullness of His understanding, virtue and happiness.  We give Him glory when we make much of Him.  We give Him glory when we make a big fuss over Him.  We give Him glory when we make Him a big deal.  When we do that, it's called a doxology.  That's EXACTLY what the apostle is doing right here.  He's making God a big deal.  

These doxologies are all throughout God's Word (Ps 72:19; 104:31; Mt 6:13; Rom 11:36; 16:27; Phil 4:20; 1Tim 1:17; 2Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1Pet 4:11; Jude 25; Rev 1:6; 4:9; 5:13; 7:12).  Think of them as divine applause signs.  Reminders of Who's really behind it all.  Reminders that we need to get our feet and cheer the only One truly worthy of our praise.  There's absolutely no reason to stop cheering.  Let the crowd go wild!

Only God deserves the eternal standing O.  Props that don't stop.

God's Gonna Blow Your Mind

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.  (Eph 3:20-21)

Paul has just made a crazy request of God.  He's begged the Lord to give his Ephesian friends supernatural strength to do three things.  One, Jesus would make Himself at home in their hearts.  Two, they would be able to wrap their brains around the incomprehensible scope if Jesus' love.  Three, God would fill each of them to the brim with every bit of His total Godness.  This is one ridiculous request.

But the apostle knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's taken his plea to the right place.  "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen" (v20-21).  We can't out ask the Him.  We can't out imagine Him.  Not even close.

God will blow your mind.  Just ask.

After Paul makes his preposterous request, he suddenly erupts in praise to God.  He can't contain himself.  He realizes that his prayer isn't too big but too small!  That's because he worships a God who loves to show off.  He worships a God who loves to astonish us.  He worships a God who loves to drop our jaws.  The apostle explodes in worship.  He just can't hold it in.  In many ways, it's a lot like what happened back in the opening of this letter.  The apostle begins to list the amazing things God has done, is doing and will do for us in Jesus (Eph 1:3-14).  The result is a cascade of praise.  One long, run-on sentence.  Once Paul gets started, he can't stop.  A Tsunami of Praise.  And it happens again here at the end of his powerful prayer for power.

God will blow your mind.  Just ask.

From his cell in a Roman slammer, the apostle pleads with these Ephesian believers to understand who Jesus is, what He's done and who they are in Him.  He knows that identity is the key.  His identity.  Our identity in Him.  Once we understand that, no counterfeit gospel, no false teaching, no demonic deception can touch us.  Once we realize that we already possess everything we need in Jesus, we won't fall for anything less.  That's entire purpose for this letter.

Paul knows that God is "able" (v20).  I'm sorry, but I don't think this word carries the oomph of the original text.  The Greek verb here is dunamai.  It means to be strong, possess great power and endowed with incredible might.  "Able" seems kind of, well, wimpy.  The apostle is blown away at the God who ripples with energy.  The word he uses is the source for such English words as dynamo.  God is powerful.  God is mighty.  God is forceful.  

Paul's explosion of praise rips apart this prayer when he realizes that God has the supernatural power "to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think" (v20).  Literally, "exceedingly abundantly."  The apostle is so blown away by God's unlimited might that he actually makes up a word.  The Lord's strength and ability is so stunning that there isn't a word that exists to describe it.  He mashes up three different terms to try and get his idea across.  The result is huperekperissou.  The only place you'll ever find this word in ancient writings is from the pen of Paul.  It means super abundantly.  Beyond extreme.  Immeasurably more.  

OK.  Sit back and try to think of the the wildest, craziest request you can ever ask God to do.  He can do it.  He can do SO much more than that.  Take another shot at it.  What did you come up with?  He'll blow that request out of the water.  As a matter of fact, that's just a sliver of His strength and ability.  Get the idea?  I can't begin to wrap my brain around His power.  God surges with strength.  And He can do super abundantly more that the chunk of gray matter can comprehend.  

God will blow your mind.  Just ask.

And He'll do that through "the power at work within us" (v20).  In other words, the strength of God's Spirit that's living inside every follower of Jesus.  Over and over and over again, Paul writes of the mind-bending idea of the energy of the Trinity in each of us.  "According to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being" (Eph 3:16).  "The immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might" (Eph 1:19).  "You were also raised with Him through the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (Col 2:12).  "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27).  "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom 8:11).  That's the power IN YOU that can do things that will blow your socks off!!

Take that all in for just a minute.  What's life thrown at you?  What are you facing?  A broken marriage.  Loss of a job.  A knee-buckling diagnosis.  In the face of the insurmountable, ask God to do the impossible.  Let your mind run rampant with the craziest and wildest ideas.  He'll shock you with His power.  He'll stun you with His love.  He'll astonish you with His grace. 

God will blow your mind.  Just ask.

Fill'er Up!

...that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:19).

Back in a previous millennium, there was an ancient institution called the full-service gas station.  My grandfather told me about it.  OK, I admit it.  I remember it too.  Here’s how it would go down.  You would pull your car up and the attendant would run out to pump your gas, check your oil and wash your windshield.  To top off your tank, you'd tell him to "fill'er up!"  That's what Paul is praying for here.  Not for a full tank of unleaded.  But that God would pour Himself into every available place among his friends in Ephesus.  He prays "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (v19).

Fill'er up!!

From the slammer in Rome, Paul prays for the folks in Ephesus.  As a matter of fact, it doesn't take much to understand this entire letter is a written prayer for this church that he knows so very well.  He knows them because he spent three years in the city being used by Jesus in one of the greatest spiritual upheavals in recorded history (Acts 19).  The apostle never stops praying for this church (Eph 1:17).  He asks God to shine His light of revelation on their hearts so they could get a glimpse of everything they already have in Jesus (Eph 1:18-23).  He prays that God's Spirit would strengthen them (Eph 3:16) and that Christ would make Himself at home in their hearts (Eph 3:17).  He prays that the Ephesians would try to wrap their brains around the massive scope of Jesus' love for them (Eph 3:18-19).  He continually prays that they would continually pray (Eph 6:18).

Specifically, the apostle asks God to fill these believers "with the fullness of God" (v19).  He literally asks the Lord to fill them with the filling.  The verb here plero'o, which means to supply fully, bring to completion, make full and fill up.  This is the same term Jesus used when telling about a net so full of fish that it was about to burst open (Mt 13:48).  Dr. Luke pulled out this verb in describing how the roar of God's Spirit filled the entire house at Pentecost (Acts 2:2).

Don't miss that this verb is passive.  Paul's NOT asking his buddies back in Ephesus to fill themselves with God's fullness.  Not possible.  God alone does the filling.  He's not some supernatural vending machine that provides a full tank of His presence whenever we feel like we need it.  God fills.  We receive.  

Paul pleads with the Father to fill the Ephesian believers with His fullness.  Don't leave any space without His divine presence.  No wasted space.  Fill every last inch.  Wall to wall.  Top to bottom.  Side to side.  

Fill'er up!!!

The apostle asks God to fill the Ephesians to the brim with "fullness of God" (v19).  The term here is pleroma, the noun cousin to the verb we just looked at.  It means that which fills up, abundance, completeness, overflowing amount or wealth.  Paul understands that we simply need more of God.  Flip ahead in this letter and you'll see that he prays for a trinitarian filling for Jesus' followers.  In v19, it's "the fullness of God."  Next, it's "the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).  Finally, it's being "filled with the Spirit" (Eph 5:18).  We desperately need more of God filling our lives.

Fill'er up!!!

OK, so how does this work?  How can I be an active recipient to "be filled with God's fullness."  Think of it this way.  In order to get more of God's fullness filling my life, I need to get everything else out.  And by "everything," I mean my own selfishness and pride.  Less of me.  More of Jesus.  That was EXACTLY John the Dunker's desire.  "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30).  But that's easy to say but hard to do.  The problem is that I'm full of myself.  Full of my own agenda.  Full of my own wants.  Full of my own flesh.  That's why there's the constant need to get my eyes back on "Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:2).  Only then do I realize how unfulfilling I am to myself.  I need to be filled with the fullness of God.  And that doesn't just happen once.  It happens daily.  Hourly.  By the minute.  By the second.  Less of me.  More of Jesus.

Fill'er up!!!

Measuring the Immeasurable

...may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:18-19).

Just how big is Jesus' love?  How broad is it?  How long is it?  How high is it?  How deep is it?  Have you ever sat down and tried to measure it?  Come on.  Go ahead.  Give it a shot.  I'll wait.  Back so soon?  You won't have a full appreciation for the massive scope and size of His love unless we try to wrap our arms and our minds around it.  Paul prays that his friends back in Ephesus "may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" (v18-19).  Measure God's love.  Give it a shot.  Only when I try to gain some perspective of Jesus love will my jaw drop in worship and awe of Him.

That's what happens when I try to measure the immeasurable. 

Paul prays for the Ephesians because he knows that once they have some concept of Christ's amazing love, they won't fall for anything less.  That's exactly why he's writing to them.  There's a heresy making the rounds that's damaging churches just down the road in places like Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea.  A team of spiritual snake oil salesmen have duped followers of Jesus into believing a lie.  According to these false teachers, Jesus was good but not God.  He may have gotten us into God's kingdom but it's up to us to stay there.  They fooled folks into thinking the only way to do that is by following a complicated list of religious rules.  After setting the Colossians straight, Paul writes to the Ephesian church.  He knows that if we see Jesus for who He is, what He's done and who we are in Him, we won't fall for this false teaching or any other counterfeit gospel.  And a BIG part of that is trying comprehend the immense extent of Christ's love.

Measuring the immeasurable.

So what unit of measure should we use to size the love of Christ?  Inches, feet, miles or light years?  Ounces, pounds or tons?  Pints, gallons or cubic miles?  What instrument is best suited for the job?  Ruler, odometer, scale or telescope?  The best instrument to measure Jesus' love for you and me is a Roman cross.  That's the only tool capable of measuring the immeasurable.  Jesus said so Himself.  He told His crew, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).  Paul wrote to the folks in Rome that the timing of Jesus' sacrificial death is one stunning yardstick of God's love.  "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8).  

Jesus loves me so much that He lived the perfect life that I've failed to live.  Jesus loves me so much that He died the brutal death for sin that I should have died.  Jesus loves me so much that He rose to a spectacular new life that I certainly do not deserve.  Paul was so shocked at the scope of Jesus' sacrifice and how He "loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20).

The cross of Christ is the only tool capable of measuring the immeasurable.