Ephesians 4:11-14

Ephesians 4:11-14 

English Standard Version 

  What's the purpose of leadership in the church?  It's to equip each and every one of the saints of the church for the work of ministry.  Ministry isn't relegated to the professionals, and it doesn't just happen in the church.  We're all called to join together for the purpose of declaring the Gospel to the world, announcing that we don't have to deal with the instability and chaos the world loves.  We can anchor ourselves into something deeper, something true, something lasting and eternal, none of which the world can offer.  

  May we take our calling seriously, studying the Word and praying through our days, relying on the Holy Spirit to keep our feet steady and our hearts focused on Christ and on Christ alone.

Ephesians 4:7-10

Ephesians 4:7-10 

English Standard Version 

  When you see flowers blooming, do you stop?  I always do the first time... but it's easy to take them for granted after that.  We get accustomed to them and they fade into the background.  We don't stop to stare and wonder at the their intricate beauty.  We're too busy for that.... we have places to be.

  Do you ever stop to appreciate that Christ came?  We talk about it a lot, as we should.  But stop for a moment and consider it.  He descended and ascended, all for the purpose of delivering grace to the world.  He did it to fill all things.  Don't brush by this... Christ loves you and wants to fill your life with grace, and so Christ descended from on high, and then ascended once more to show the power and depth of his love.  Wonder at this fact.  Sink into it.  It's amazing!

Prayer for Today:  God, help me be lost in wonder, love and praise at the miracle of your incarnation, a pure gift of love.

Ephesians 4:4-6

Ephesians 4:4-6 

English Standard Version 

  The world doesn't agree on much.  Our family cannot agree on whether mustard or ketchup is the superior condiment.  Other families are torn apart by the debate around the designated hitter.  Still others cannot decide if chili is a soup or not.  

  Think of all the various things that divide the world, from physical boundaries to political debates.  8 billion people and 12 billion opinions.

  So how powerful it is to have something that cuts across borders, across ideologies, across differences of opinion.  We have one common hope in Christ.  We have one faith, one baptism, one God.  The Christian church is a big tent, and Christ is over all and through all and in all.  In him, we are united.  In him, we have hope.  In him, we gather and are sent.

Prayer for Today: Lord, thank you for the one hope we have.  Give me your vision to see ways to find common ground with those around me.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Ephesians 4:1-3 

English Standard Version 

  What do you hear when Paul says he is a prisoner for the Lord?  He certainly spent plenty of time in jail due to his public ministry professing Jesus Christ as Lord, which neither the Jews nor the Romans were particularly fond of.  

  But Paul may well have meant more.  He is captive to the Lord's love and mercy -- it has captured his heart, and he wants to go nowhere else.  He willingly has bound himself to Jesus, no matter where the road may take him, because the sweetness of the Gospel has so overwhelmed him that nothing the world can offer would come close to duplicating the sense of eternal fulfillment that the Gospel offers him.

  Meanwhile, I think of the things that hold our attention captive.  We become prisoners to our phones and to the television and the narratives they are spinning, often rooted in fear or scarcity.  We're spellbound by so many mini-narratives that play out every day, be it relationship or community dramas that matter on an immediate timeframe, but so many of them have little ability to endure.  Like a sparkler on a July evening, they flare and burn out in a moment.  

  But we're moving so fast, we rarely stop and think about how we spend our time and where we give our attention.  Often time feels cheap, when in reality it's the most precious resource we have.  Paul is calling us to choose wisely how we invest ourselves, and he's reminding us that we're part of an eternal community.  Therefore, we ought to treat one another well, to think about the humility and gentleness that Jesus assumed when he walked this earth.  He didn't have to be humble and gentle -- he chose to, for a reason.  If we want to imitate him, and I struggle to think of reasons why we wouldn't want to imitate the single greatest, wisest, and most powerful person that has ever lived, then shouldn't we strive to be humble and gentle in the world as well?  If Christ treated his enemies with grace, then perhaps we should seek to do the same, no matter how hard it might be?

  Bearing with one another in love is no easy thing.  I think of God speaking to Moses in the wilderness, talking about the Israelites as a group of stiff-necked people.  But God loved them through the wilderness, and God loves us through the wildernesses we find ourselves in as well.  What a gift that is.  Maybe we can engage with the world on the basis of gratitude, spending enough time in God's Word that our own hearts become captive to the Lord, which then transforms the way we treat and serve one another.