The Ultimate Gift

Ephesians 4:1-13

I struggle at holidays to come up with the right gift for those I love, but God is a great gift-giver.  He knows exactly what we need and graciously gives it to us.  It may not always be what we WANT, but after prayerful consideration, we often conclude - He knows what He’s doing.

God doesn’t give gifts for them to be tossed in the closet and forgotten.  He gives them to us to use!  We are to be active participants in our faith.  We’re all called to work together for the good of others.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

While we are each different and possess different gifts at different times, the Message translation says, we are “all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together.”  Verses 4-6 really resonate with me, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

We are one in Christ and we are all here for one purpose – to love.  How fitting, since Thursday is Valentine’s Day.  Let me repeat that:  THURSDAY is Valentine’s Day!  And I think I know what I’m getting those I love.  Not candy, or flowers or funny cards, but to “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (v. 2).

Hopefully my husband and children appreciate this!

Thank you, Father, for the ultimate gift of love – your Son!  May we share this gift with others as we walk along the road of life together.  Amen

A Peter Pan Life or a Life Worth Living?

Ephesians 4:1-6; 11-16

Listen to your teacher. Repeat after me:

I won't grow up,

(I won't grow up)

I don't want to go to school.

(I don't want to go to school)

Just to learn to be a parrot,

(Just to learn to be a parrot)

And recite a silly rule.

(And recite a silly rule)

If growing up means

It would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree,

I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up

Not me!

Not I,

Not me!

Not me!

OK, so Peter Pan is a fictional character.  But haven't you ever felt like saying, I won't grow up?! I wish I could do what I want, when I want it?  (Any parent has certainly hear those phrases time and again.)

But take a look at Paul's letter to the Ephesians and you will see a deeper, more thoughtful picture of growing up.  What does a Christian grown up look like?  Paul has some ideas to share with us:

• you live a life worth of the calling you have received (v. 1)
• you are completely humble, gentle, and patient with one another (v. 2)
• you keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace (v. 3)

When we're not a grown up, how do we act? "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming (v. 15)." 

Peter Pan's life sounds fun on first blush - no responsibilities, just fun all day long.  But God has created us for much more than that:  a life that is lived to glorify Him is truly a life worth living.  

Lord, I want to grow up into a mature Christian.  Help me to speak the truth in love and grow to become more like you.  Amen.  

United we Stand

Ephesians 4:13 (NIV) 
¹³  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 

The verse preceding this talks about preparing God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. I read the text for today several times before writing; trying to wrap my mind around just what was meant in verse 13.  The message shared at the worship service I attended today was helpful.

Our church is learning how to reach outside our walls, to build relationships with others, to invite people into our lives.  Through these relationships, we begin to care for each other. The goal is to get to the point where our new friends are curious about our faith. When they begin to ask questions, we are preparing how to answer with truth and love.

The key is unity. We need to be united in mind and spirit in order to be able to share our faith. It is important we are comfortable with each other, and that we have a few special friends praying for us as we journey out into the mission field of life.

Some of us will be called to provide food or shelter, meet the physical needs of people who are struggling just to live each day. Some of us will be called to befriend a lost or lonely person – visit a nursing home, a homeless shelter.  And some of us will be called to share our faith.

It is all possible when we are united in Christian love and have a heart to bring others into this community.

Ephesians 4:4-6,13

One Habit of Highly Effective Believers

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

In his leadership masterpiece, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey invoked Aesop’s familiar fable about the goose that laid the golden eggs. Covey wrote, “True effectiveness is a function of two things: what is produced (the golden eggs) and the producing asset or capacity to produce (the goose).”¹ If we only focus on production and neglect the people and equipment used in the process, we eventually lose the ability to create anything. When we focus solely on production capability, however, we produce nothing. Effectiveness lies in devoting needed attention to both. 

The apostle Paul never read Covey’s book—missed it by a couple millennia, actually—but he certainly understood and applied this concept. Citing those who preach and teach among us, Paul pointed to God's purpose: “to prepare his people for works of service.” Solid Biblical instruction is not an end in itself, rather it prepares us (production capability) for a purpose: to serve others (production). Jesus put it this way, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”²

Yet just as one tool might be manufactured for the purpose of producing something else, so our service to others ultimately becomes the means that lead to yet a higher purpose and a greaer outcome—the building up of the body of Christ and the exaltation of God. Again, Jesus: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”³

God’s blessings were never intended to stop with us, but to flow out from us, blessing others and glorifying God. And it is to these ends that our learning and serving make us all the more effective. It’s a good habit to get into.

Father, bless us to bless others, grace us to grace others, and may our lives bring you praise. Amen.

¹ Stephen R. Covey. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. (New York: Fireside), 54.
² John 13:17
³ Matthew 5:16

From Dress-Up to Grow-Up

Trying on parents’ wardrobes is a perennial rite of passage for young children. Dad’s blazers hang like trench coats on little boys as they easily step into his cavernous clodhoppers. Baggy dresses are all the more stunning on little girls when accessorized with waist-length necklaces, and bracelets dangle ever so elegantly from bent elbows. High heels scuffle along behind little feet in toe boxes, and nothing accentuates quite like lipstick applied with crayon-like precision. Dressing up like grown-ups is timeless for children.

But what if we were content with remaining small and pretending to be big? What if we continued to wear the make-believe clothes of adulthood but somehow refused to mature into the fullness of its stature? What once was considered cute would now be cause for concern, wouldn’t it?

The apostle Paul wrote, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”¹ When Jesus enfolds us in larger-than-life robes, we feel secure. Yet it is also God’s plan, His expectation, that we “mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”² We are called to grow up into the clothes of our dress-up.

How? It begins with love, and it looks like unity. “Speaking the truth in love,” Paul encouraged, "we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”³ As we live in “the most excellent way”⁴ of love, we will “put childish ways behind [us]”⁵ and unite as one, even as each of us is transformed into the image of Christ.

Father, thank you for your most excellent way of love. Lead me in it today. Transform me, transform your church, that we would embrace your truth and mature together in unity. Protect us from distraction, and grow us up in Christ. In His name, I pray. Amen.

[Read the Scripture for the day in Ephesians 4:11-24.]

¹ Galatians 3:27
² Ephesians 4:13
³ Ephesians 4:15, 16
⁴ 1 Corinthians 12:31
⁵ 1 Corinthians 13:11

Ephesians 4:20-32

Instructions for Christian Living

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to hardening of their hearts.” Ephesians 4:17-18

The next few verses in Ephesians 4 include the following terms; deceitful desires, impurity, sensuality, corrupt, falsehood, speak truthfully, work, share with those in need, get rid of bitterness, forgive each other, etc.

With all of the humble, honest and inspiring people in the world, why is it that there is so much attention poured into that which is just the opposite? Why do so many focus on the immoral? It’s as though we work hard to inspire others and model what is good and right in God’s eyes, yet the negative and immoral get the most attention. Which quote do you tend to focus on?

“Where there is love there is life.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

 “The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.” -Kula Ndukwe Kala

 “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.” 

― Emily Dickinson

“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” 
― Abraham Lincoln

“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska

 “I don't know the question, but sex is definitely the answer.” 

― Woody Allen

“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White

We ARE a torn people, so MUST plan our days. Lord, we praise and thank you for this wondrous world. Please be with us and in us each and every day. Help us to be deliberate about the way we spend our time, and seek what is good in your name. Dear God we need your spirit to guide our thinking so that each step we take reflects your grace and goodness. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen

Read/Listen to Ephesians 4:20-32

Growing up and going out

A friend (I’ll call him Mark) once relayed a brief exchange of refreshing candor.  Getting his attention in perhaps the most effective way he could, a plain-spoken friend of his shared this observation: “You know, Mark, you’re really into yourself.  And most days, you don’t come out.”  It was helpful truth spoken in love ... and a teaspoon of humor to make the medicine go down.  (Obviously, he spoke also from a healthy storehouse of relational equity!) 

Growing into Christian maturity includes focusing less on ourselves and directing our attention toward others.  The twelfth century French monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, wrote of four ascending degrees of love.  We begin with loving ourselves for our own sake.  Then growth occurs as we love God for our sake ... then love God for God’s sake ... and, finally, loving ourselves [and presumably others] for God’s sake.  None of this is our own doing; all of it is the result of his divine work in us. 

Of course, our spiritual development also evidences itself in knowledge, obedience, faith and grace.  And as we increase in all of these, we bear progressively more fruit for the Kingdom of God.  For people speak when they are heard.  People listen to one who cares.  People trust those who love them.  And people know “real” when they see it. 

So all of our Bible studies, all of our favorite sermons, all of our worship, all of our prayer – they’re not just for our own good.  Rather, God uses these to equip us for work among the people of his affection, the vast “fields” that are “ripe for harvest.” 

So let us look beyond ourselves and go out as we grow up. 

Lord, may all the nourishment you have given to us grow us up in maturity of faith and obedience.  As you have built us up, use us to bear fruit for you, today.  Amen. 

“From [Christ], the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  Ephesians 4:16

[Click here to see the daily reading in Ephesians 4:14-24.]