"What has been
planned in eternity, is to be displayed in community" pretty much sums up
both the message and structure of Ephesians. The first half of the letter
(chapters 1-3) outlines God's plan for our salvation, conceived in eternity
past, accomplished in time and history in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus, and then personally applied to our individual lives in our own
experiences through the Holy Spirit raising us up from spiritual death to the
fullness of the new life ("every spiritual blessing", 1:3) that we
now have and share together with every other believer - in Christ. This is all
rarefied, high-octane theology designed to make our hearts beat a little faster
as we consider all that God does for us in grace and that we might behold and
delight in His glory (1:6,14; 2:7-8; 3:10-11,20-21).
But there are
practical implications and consequences that follow on from the grace that God
lavishes on us (undeservedly in the past and continuously in the present) that
Paul now unpacks in chapters 4-6: in
light of all of God's mercy, he writes that we are "to live a life worthy of the calling you have
received…" (4:1). In the rest of the letter Paul describes what it
means to live worthily for Christ. But notice the personal and relational foundations he
lays in 4:2-3 regarding everything we do: "Be completely humble and gentle; be
patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity
of the Spirit through the bond of peace." This is God's expectation
of us as we relate to those around us within the church fellowship. They are
among the most profound, searching and convicting words in the New Testament.
They describe the life that flows from a heart that has been radically turned
around and transformed by being overwhelmed by an appreciation of God's
grace. They also describe how Christ
lovingly relates to us and endlessly works to stimulate loving and forgiving
relationships within the church family. So, do they describe you?
The verses that
follow (v4-16) give some justification for the high demands of loving
commitment one to the other for which Paul appeals (v2-3): unity
- we share a common experience of God's grace in our lives and we are to work
towards making such unity a reality (v4-6,13); diversity
- we are all different, with differing roles and functions (v7,11,15-16); so
that we may work interdependently to fulfil a common goal, namely an active and
committed ministry (v12: that is,
obedient service, doing the good works just right for us to do, 2:10); and all
of that - so that we can help each other towards - maturity (v13-14), measured by our unity in the faith and by our
personal knowledge of Christ. This is
Church. Anything else, anything less, is a failure to live worthy of our
calling (v1), for this is why God has saved us.
And yet, as Paul
describes, sometimes (often?) life in church is far from this ideal (4:17 -
5:21). Paul appeals for his readers to take their holy calling seriously by
"insisting" (v17) that they stop thinking like unbelievers so that
they will not live as unbelievers - and pretty gross unbelievers at that (for
example, 4:18-19,25-31)! So why are they
behaving like unconverted pagans? Because they have failed to do their part in
developing their loving, believing relationship with Christ (4:20-21); because they have disengaged from the daily
frontline battle of the heart of recognising and repenting of sin, and no
longer keep coming back to Jesus for cleansing and spiritual renewal (4:20-24).
Such sinful
self-centredness impacts our relationships within the church fellowship
(5:19-21), within our marriages (v22-32) and family life (6:1-4), and even our
relationships in work, often among unbelievers (v5-9). Paul's exhortation therefore, to "be
strong in the Lord… and to put on the full armour" that God provides in
the Gospel (6:10-11), is not for some extra-ordinary spiritual battle waged
against Satan in particularly difficult times of trial and or temptation,
although that will happen. No, we need
to wear all of God's armour (v14-18) - Biblical truth, Gospel righteousness,
evangelistic readiness, confident and believing faith in God, an assurance of
salvation, promises of God's Word, and all-prayers for all-circumstances at
all-times - for normal, everyday Christ glorifying living, in church, at home,
in the workplace, wherever. These
everyday places of everyday life are spiritual battlegrounds where Satan will
attack God by attacking us, tempting us to respond to the routine daily niggles
and annoyances - not with humility but arrogance (see 4:2-3), not with
gentleness but with harshness, not with patience but self-centred impatience,
not with love but with anger, bitterness, malice and revenge (4:31). We need
the whole armour of God to live like Jesus. Make sure you're wearing it today.
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