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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world,
May I share something exciting with you? According to the most recent statistics I’ve seen, this daily “WWJ” ministry is now being received in 73 countries and 1391 cities around the world, as of last week! Isn’t that amazing? Here’s a picture of where those cities are, would you praise God with me and take just a moment to pray for the people living in some of the regions of the world that you see on this map, far from where you live:
Now this weekend I’d like us to continue considering the powerful potential of God’s people, strategically placed and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, to influence their neighborhoods, their towns, their cities, even their regions of the world! Let’s look together at Ephesians chapter 2 this weekend.
Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus in about 60ad “You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 2:1,2) That’s quite a description isn’t it? Do you believe it’s a fair assessment of what you see in your part of the world? It’s true isn’t it?
Anyone who has not yet trusted Jesus Christ for their salvation is living under the death sentence of God for their unrepented sin. At any moment they could die and their destiny is hell for eternity. That’s the justice price of following Satan and living in the chaos of rebellion against God. (Romans 3:23 & 6:23) And it applies to all of us doesn’t it? We too were ‘guilty as charged’.
Paul continues with this horrific but accurate reminder for me, and maybe you too: “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest of humanity we were by nature deserving of God’s wrath.” (Ephesians 2:3) It’s true isn’t it? I was in that desperate condition and so where you! And look around wherever you live in our world, the vast majority of every person you see is in that pitiful state! And it only gets worse doesn’t it? Because the human sinful nature is like cancer, unstoppable, an unquenchable appetite for selfishness… and there is no human antidote! Not therapy, not money, not effort, not penance, not remorse, not abstinence, not even profound resolutions. There is no escape! Only despair…for every person!
How long ago was that for you my friend? What was it that finally opened your mind to understand how much God loved you and that Jesus’ death payment was sufficient to set you FREE? When were you rescued by God from that horrific sin condemnation? When did you feel the sin bondage shackles fall off your legs, so you could walk free with Jesus? When did God begin His very powerful, life transforming work INSIDE you? When did your heart first rejoice that you knew you were FORGIVEN and RECONCILED into relationship with Holy God and He was adopting you into His family so you could call Him ‘Abba Father’? (Romans 8:14-16)
“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with HIM in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus… For it is by grace you have been saved, and this is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:4-9)
Grace is one of those worn out words, used way too often in church conversation and used very rarely outside of church. So what is ‘grace’ in your experience? How do you show ‘grace’ to other people daily, especially in this Coronavirus, upside down world where everything seems so out of control? Do you see the power in that word ‘grace’ when it’s used to explain what God has accomplished in our rescue from our sin bondage? Where does ‘power grace’ need to be unleashed in your region of the world, to make a positive difference in the damage done by COVID-19?
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10) Have you considered what craftsmanship has looked like in your life as God has been working to restore you, renew you, refine you, as a person, from who you had become, in your sinful life, to who God desired and designed you to be for HIS glory, and the good of the people your life touches? Ponder that a moment! Do you suppose God intends for this Holy Spirit refining work to continue in your life and mine for the rest of our lives? Will you welcome that or resist it?
And do you see that in this 10th verse Paul is helping us understand that God, like a good engineer, is refining EACH of us, with a specific purpose in mind. There are ‘good works’ God wants to accomplish in our world through you and me and every Christ follower. But that will require His refinement of us, so we have the ability to do the work, are you willing? It may also require relocation because the assignment He wants to give us is in another part of the country or even the world! Are you willing?
Now let me invite you to consider one more important part of this. The rest of Ephesians 2 is Paul explaining that God is doing all this great work in BOTH Jews and Gentiles. And then He’s bringing them together as fellow Christ followers, to form one global, special people… God’s people! Remember 1 Peter 2:9?
Now I doubt you and I very often think in terms of Jews & Gentiles when we think diversity. We tend to think in terms of human distinctives like skin color, vocation, face recognition, language, attire, food preferences etc. God’s vision for “God’s people” is that every ‘people group’ in the world is represented in God’s people. Remember the word “ethne” I shared with you a few days ago? Do you live in a place where many languages are spoken? Does the variety of restaurants in your area reflect the people variety in your society? When you go into the local Walmart, or stand outside the public schools in your town, do you see wide demographic diversity? Now what about in the churches in your town? Are they a fair representation of all the people who live in your region?
Are you ready for this: God’s global family, Jesus’ church, should be the most diverse assembly of people found anywhere in the world. That’s what Ephesians 2:11-22 is all about. Do you see God’s strategy for accomplishment of this miracle? “For He (Jesus) Himself is our peace, who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity… thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile us all to God through the cross, by which Jesus put to death our hostility…”(with each other) (Eph. 2:14-16)
Now I realize Paul is focusing here on the Jew and Gentile prejudices and differences in the first century, and I’m widening it, calling us to consider differences among peoples globally and attitudes in every part of the world. When you look at major cities in North America and much of Europe, you will find dramatic ethnic diversity. These widely diverse peoples come together primarily looking for the fundamentals of building a life… housing, employment, education, health care, and friends. They tolerate their differences in hopes of building a community of functional relationships. But with the people of God it should be very different.
Jesus draws us together, all through the same experience: rescue from our sin condemnation, salvation, adoption into God’s family, regeneration work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ hope is that we also all experience assimilation into the Body of Christ, His global church.
Paul concludes with: “Consequently you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole (global) building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord…” (Eph. 2:18-21)
Now my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world, as riots continue burning American cities, much of it is race tension motivated. And that is true in much of the rest of the world. What a perfect time for God’s people to live in the authentic, Holy Spirit enabled, mutually respectful harmony that Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians about and Jesus prayed about in the garden of Gethsemane only hours before going to the cross. (John 17)
May I invite us, each and all, to look closely at our neighborhoods and schools and churches and ask God what HE wants us to do to be peacemakers and agents of honorable, harmonious living in our regions? Let’s make a difference, a big difference in these tense weeks, my friends, as a people of God.
Here’s that very special song again ‘We’re the People of God, called by His name’… only this time recorded in a worship service with diversity, therefore needing multiple languages on the screen! Amen…
Click on link below:
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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