Monday, June 19, 2006
Ephesians 4* June 20th
Go ahead and look first at Ephesians 4 . See how God speaks to you individually. Then come back, if you wish, and see what God has put in my mind/heart.
* I was pointed to the fact I skipped Galatians 5-6. While I have all sorts of "good excuses" for that, I will simply accept your gift of grace in advance and work on those last chapters of Galatians once we have finished Ephesians.
Key Verse(s): Ephesians 4:14-15
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 men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Title: Growing Up
Observation: I hate fads. I like to think I always have, though you could probably go through my historical closet and music collection and come to the conclusion that I have been just as much a part of the herd as anyone else. Still, the idea that we have to re-decorate our worlds to keep up with some arbitrary trend every few years to satisfy the whimsy of some multi-national companies corporate shill does make me a little crazy. Does that sound bitter and curmudgeonly? I hope so.
And yes, the Christian world has our own fads. Some of them are at bottom quite good, the message re-enforcing the truth we have already learned, bringing us back to the basics of our faith and explaining them in a new and fresh way. I think that the Purpose Driven Life was one such example.
But, as Rick Warren would point out, there is nothing new in that book that has not been a part of orthodox Christianity for 2000 years. The foolish idea that Dr. Warren had come up with something new, when he wrote that your life was, “not about you” but rather pleasing God is simply re-stating the Apostle Paul saying, ‘to live is Christ, to die is gain’.
One of the reasons why this book, and other books I like far less, was so successful is that we do not have the fundamentals of faith down. The church has not communicated well, nor have we lived up, to the commands of Christ, to love God, love on another, and preach the gospel to all people. A life dedicated to following Jesus should be challenged and encouraged by a basic primer like The Purpose Driven Life but it should not be new information. For those of us who have followed Jesus for a decade or more, we should already be mature enough, grown up enough, not to be pushed off our spiritual foundations by this good theology, much less some of the other much more suspect books about living out the Christian life. Otherwise we will move from one spiritual high to another, never really knowing Jesus except second hand.
Application: I need to grow up in faith. I must challenge others to grow up, and not be as infants. I need to encourage healthy and strong believers. I must be willing to sacrifice so that I might find space for my own growth.
Prayer: Lord God, help me create the space I need to experience your love and to grow up into your headship. Help me to lead others to grow into your great love, that they might become strong in knowing you.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
* I was pointed to the fact I skipped Galatians 5-6. While I have all sorts of "good excuses" for that, I will simply accept your gift of grace in advance and work on those last chapters of Galatians once we have finished Ephesians.
Key Verse(s): Ephesians 4:14-15
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 men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Title: Growing Up
Observation: I hate fads. I like to think I always have, though you could probably go through my historical closet and music collection and come to the conclusion that I have been just as much a part of the herd as anyone else. Still, the idea that we have to re-decorate our worlds to keep up with some arbitrary trend every few years to satisfy the whimsy of some multi-national companies corporate shill does make me a little crazy. Does that sound bitter and curmudgeonly? I hope so.
And yes, the Christian world has our own fads. Some of them are at bottom quite good, the message re-enforcing the truth we have already learned, bringing us back to the basics of our faith and explaining them in a new and fresh way. I think that the Purpose Driven Life was one such example.
But, as Rick Warren would point out, there is nothing new in that book that has not been a part of orthodox Christianity for 2000 years. The foolish idea that Dr. Warren had come up with something new, when he wrote that your life was, “not about you” but rather pleasing God is simply re-stating the Apostle Paul saying, ‘to live is Christ, to die is gain’.
One of the reasons why this book, and other books I like far less, was so successful is that we do not have the fundamentals of faith down. The church has not communicated well, nor have we lived up, to the commands of Christ, to love God, love on another, and preach the gospel to all people. A life dedicated to following Jesus should be challenged and encouraged by a basic primer like The Purpose Driven Life but it should not be new information. For those of us who have followed Jesus for a decade or more, we should already be mature enough, grown up enough, not to be pushed off our spiritual foundations by this good theology, much less some of the other much more suspect books about living out the Christian life. Otherwise we will move from one spiritual high to another, never really knowing Jesus except second hand.
Application: I need to grow up in faith. I must challenge others to grow up, and not be as infants. I need to encourage healthy and strong believers. I must be willing to sacrifice so that I might find space for my own growth.
Prayer: Lord God, help me create the space I need to experience your love and to grow up into your headship. Help me to lead others to grow into your great love, that they might become strong in knowing you.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
