Introduction to Ephesians

The book of Ephesians emphasizes several things.  One is that as believers in Jesus we are united.  Regardless of our cultural, racial or economic background we are all brought together under Christ.  A second emphasis is that we are saved by grace.  We do not earn our salvation; it is a gift that God freely gives to his people.  Thirdly the book of Ephesians encourages us to live out our faith.  Paul is very practical (even giving advice on marriage and resisting the attacks of Satan).

Author: 

• Paul the apostle
• Paul had a radical conversation experience (Acts 9:1-19)
• Before following Jesus he persecuted the church
• After conversion became an apostle and missionary
• Paul wrote several books in the New Testament (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon)
• He was beheaded for his faith by emperor Nero
• Paul suffered many different things for following Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:23-33)

Date of writing:
Paul wrote this letter from prison in Rome (around 62 AD)

Written to:  
Paul wrote this book to the church in Ephesus from prison.  Ephesus was a major city Asia Minor (what is now Turkey).  The city was the home of the temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis (one of the wonders of the ancient world).  The city of Ephesus was a place of trade and a center of paganism.  Paul ministered in Ephesus for a couple of years (Acts 19).

Key verses:
• Ephesians 1:3
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Ephesians 3:20-21
• Ephesians 4:2
• Ephesians 5:21
• Ephesians 6:10-17

Biography
Eerdmans Handbook to the Bible, edited by David Alexander and Pat Alexander.  Lion Publishing, England, 1983.
Douglas, JD.  Who’s Who in Christian History, “James, Brother of Jesus” page 351-352.  Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton Illinois, 1992.
Beers Gilbert V.  The Victor Handbook of Bible Knowledge. Victor books, USA, 1981.

The book of James

My church is encouraging people to read and study the book of James through out the month of April.  This is a short introduction to the book:

The book of James

The book of James challenges us to live out our faith.  James emphasizes that we need to not simply listen to the bible we need to obey it.  This short book is filled with practical wisdom.  It covers a range of topics: from temptation to watching what we say, from favoritism to prayer, from making future plans to suffering.

Author: James

He was the half-brother to Jesus (Galatians 1:19)

James did not believe in Jesus at first (John 7:5; Mark 3:21)

He accepted Jesus as the Messiah after the resurrection

He is sometimes referred to as “James the Just”

James was key leader in the early church, especially in Jerusalem

He was a leader in the important Jerusalem council that is mentioned in Acts 15

When Paul traveled to Jerusalem to meet with the church leaders he sought out James (Galatians 1:19)

James was martyred in 61 AD in Jerusalem by stoning[1]

Date of writing: Unknown

We are not sure exactly when this book was written.  However it may actually be the first New Testament book to have been written.

Written to: Early Jewish Christians who were not residing in Jerusalem 

At first the early church consisted primarily of Jewish believers.  The church later expanded to include those who were not of Jewish origin. 

It is likely that this letter was written to be circulated among different congregations. 

Key verses:

            James 1:5

            James 1:22

            James 1:27

            James 2:17

            James 3:13

            James 4:17

            James 5:16

Biography

Douglas, JD.  Who’s Who in Christian History, “James, Brother of Jesus” page 351-352.  Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton Illinois, 1992.

The works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, translated by William Whiston, Hendrickson Publishers, Massachusetts, 1987.

“James the Just” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_the_Just

“Epistle of James” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_of_James

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[1] The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, page 537-538

Rent a Mourner

Article from cbc.ca talks about a business that hires out actors to attend and mourn at your funeral.  Their website states:

Whether you need to introduce new faces, increase perceived popularity or simply increase numbers we are here to help

This is something that is common in some other cultures.  However this feels different.  I want to say wrong but that would not be the right word.
In other cultures it is an established cultural tradition.  Everyone knows who has been hired and what they are there for (often it is for loud wailing).  This seems like something totally different.
The website mentions to "increase perceived popularity".
Which leads me to ask a whole bunch of questions:

• Are we so desperate to appear popular that even in death we are still striving for people to believe that we are/were popular?
• What has happened to our community when we need to hire people to come to our funeral?  We have 1,000 face-book friends, but are not convinced that anyone them will actually show up to say fare-well once we have died.
• Why are we worried about what people think of us after we are dead?
• Funerals are already expensive  so why pay more to convince people that we are popular?  (Rather than giving the money to family or friends.)
• Who do we think we are kidding?  Do we really think that people are not going to know that we hired someone?  And once it is discovered what happens to our "perceived popularity"?

“In Search of a Unified Field Theory. A Look at Ecclesiastes”

Workshop by Pierre Gilbert

Written to the someone who believes that life under God is useless and meaningless.  The writer is a super-cynic, who shows that "life under the sun" (life without God) is meaningless.

We have two options:

1. "Life under the Sun" = incoherence, meaningless and absurd
2. "Life under God" = life and meaning

Interesting point of interest Ecclesiastes is a commentary on the curse (Genesis 3)

Some take away points:

• Don't be paralyzed by fear (11:1-6)
• Be joyful (11:7-10)
• Be faithful to God (12:1-7)

Song of Solomon

Pierre Gilbert - workshop
(Here are some highlights - I know I am missing some things that Pierre taught us)

Song of Solomon is a love poem - it is not a metaphor for Jesus and the church

Written to combat the predominate understanding of sexuality found within that culture

The surronding cultures' understanding of sexuality

• manipulation of the gods
• It was a way to induce the gods to bring fertility to the earth
• exploits women
• Women only true value is having children

What the Song teaches us

• Sexuality is a wonderful gift from God
• Sex is always within the context of loyalty (marriage)
• It is to be done with kindness and respect
• Women are not sex objects but are people to be treated with respect and dignity

Other points:

Sex has the power to do great good and great harm.  People's lives have been destroyed because of sex.

Choosing Wisdom

Sunday sermon by Pierre Gilbert

Basic things about wisdom (and the wisdom books in bible - Job, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes):

There are four levels of wisdom:

• A trade
• Intelligence, insight and/or shrewdness
• Common sense
• The understanding of the fundamental questions of life

The fourth level is the highest level.  And through out the bible it is linked to trusting/loving/seeking/following God. 

This is something that cannot be given or bought or stolen it can only be chosen.  

Wisdom is not simply for old people it is for everyone.  In fact the wisdom books target the youth.  They invite youth to choose wisdom (to choose God) which is really a choice for life instead of death.  

Epiphany

January 6 was Epiphany.  This is a day when we celebrate the coming of the wise men to worship Jesus and present their gifts to him (Matthew 2).
Ryan on Sunday called us to worship Jesus by bringing our gifts to him, like the wise men.  Ryan stated that we are all gifted, gifted in different ways, and that we should use these gifts to serve Jesus.

How will I use the gifts that God has given me to worship Jesus and serve others in this next year?

The rift-raft

On Sunday there was baptism in my church.  It was a beautiful thing.  It always is.  

But this time what stood out was the rift-raft.  Standing among all the people who were there on Sunday it was just so clear that we are all a bunch of rift-raft.  None of us has it together.  We come from different backgrounds, from the traditional Mennonites to the tattooed rebels.  The testimonies told stories about failure and messing up.  And how God reaches down and saves.

This is our story.  I am mess, but Jesus has reached out and rescued me.

Looking around the sanctuary I was convinced there is a God.  Because the transformed lives of the people getting baptized are not because of our greatness, in fact it seems to actually be in spite of us.  Jesus is doing something amazing.

Are we ready for Christmas?

Are we ready for God to break in?

Christmas is about the creator of universe, God almighty himself, breaking into humanity.  Yahweh becoming human.
Who was ready for Yahweh to come?
No one in Bethlehem.  They did not even care enough to make room for a woman about to give birth.
There were some who were ready.  The shepherds, the wise men, Simenon  Anna.  Even Herod (though he tried to kill Yahweh).
Where was everyone else?  The priests?
Yahweh faced rejection the moment he entered the world as a baby.
But he still entered into the muck of this world.

And the miracle is that Yahweh still breaks into this world, still enters into the muck.
Are we ready?

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."  

Revelation 3:20

Prayer affects God

Regarding prayer from Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy:

God's "response" to our prayers is not a charade.  He does not pretend that he is answering our prayer when he is only doing what he was going to do anyway.  Our requests really do make a difference in what God does or does not do.  The idea that everything would happen exactly as it does regardless of whether we pray or not is a specter that haunts the minds of many who sincerely profess belief in God.  It makes prayer psychologically impossible, replacing it with dead ritual at best. (page 244)

prayer is a matter of coming to a person other than oneself and asking that they do something that one cannot do oneself.  It is coming to One who has repeatedly invaded human history and continues to do so.  It is intelligently working with him to accomplish ends that fulfill his purposes in creation and in fostering human life upon the earth for a short while.  (page 249)

Was Jesus fun?

Dallas Willard, in The Divine Conspiracy, invites us to think about who Jesus is:

We should, to begin with, think that God leads a very interesting life, and that he is full of joy.  Undoubtedly he is the most joyous being in the universe.  The abundance of his love and generosity is inseparable from his infinite joy.  All of the good and beautiful things from which we occasionally drink tiny droplets of soul-exhilarating joy, God continuously experiences in all their breadth and depth and richness.  (page 62)

We have commented several times on how the currently accepted image of Jesus all but makes it impossible to find him interesting and attractive, lovable.  The responses of common people to him throughout the pages of the gospel show how false that image is.  He was such an attractive person and such a powerful speaker that, from the human point of view, the leaders of the day killed him out of envy for his popularity (Matt. 27:18).  He was a master of humor and often used it to drive home the truths he imparted, as any good speaker does.  But few today would put him on their guest list for a party - if it were really going to be a party.  Jesus as we don't think of Jesus as intelligent, so we don't think of him as pleasant company, someone to enjoy being around.   (page 239)

Is Jesus smart?

Dallas Willard, in The Divine Conspiracy, invites us to think about who Jesus is:

It is not possible to trust Jesus, or anyone else, in matters where we do not believe him to be competent.  We cannot pray for his help and rely on his collaboration in dealing with real-life matters we suspect might defeat his knowledge or abilities.
And can we seriously imagine that Jesus could be Lord if he were not smart?  If he were divine, would he be dumb?  Or uninformed?  Once you stop to think about it, how could he be what we take him to be in all other respects and not be the best-informed and most intelligent person of all, the smartest person who ever lived?  (page 94)

Voice for the voiceless

My wife, Cindy, just got back from leading a team from our church to visit SEEDS of Hope's home for orphans in Zambia.  To hear of their stories see SEEDS of Hope blog and Cindy's blog.

Why did they go? 

A voice for the voiceless.  This team is now the voice for these kids who had no voice.  Most of the kids that our team held and played with would have been dead without SEEDS of Hope.  They would have had no future.  But someone saw them and spoke on their behalf.  These kids are no longer a statistic or a tragedy that happens far removed from us that we can easily ignore.  They are people.  We know their names.  We see their faces.  We hear part of their story.  We care for them.
And this is true even for us who have never gone, because our friends and family have gone and are speaking for these kids.

Seth Godin and Education

Education is important.  Something that should be constantly talked about, reviewed and improved upon.
I have a friend who just pulled one of their kids from the school system to home school because she believes that her kid is not being taught anything.
Another friend told me that in one of her kids classes they watch a couple of movies every week.  These are not educational movies but Disney movies.
Now my kids' schools are great.  I am impressed with most of the teachers in my community.  However I am wondering if that is the norm or are we just an exception 
The questions that I have are:
Why are bad systems tolerated in our society?  
Can we make great systems even better?  
Seth Godin has some interesting ideas about education and its future.

Zambia - SEEDS of Hope

On November 8 my wife, Cindy, leaves for Zambia.  She will be gone for two weeks.  She is leading a short term missions team from our church.
A couple of years ago our church asked a question at our annual meeting.  "There are 15 million orphans in Africa.  What is our response?  Do we have a responsibility to help and if so, what should that look like?"
Our answer was to partner with an organization called SEEDS of Hope.  They have a home in Zambia for children with or affected by AIDS.  It is our desire to be committed for the long haul, not just send some money once and move on.
This means relationship.  We want to have a relationship with the people and kids we are partnering with.
So we are sending teams of people to Africa.  To build these relationships, to learn, to grow, to help out wherever we can.
Please pray for the team.  Pray that they will be a blessing, they will be blessed, and that relationships will be strengthened.

Wrong direction?

Reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.  
Willard really challenges how we orientate our lives.

"Stand up for your rights" sounds so good.  How about "All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten?"  And "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty?"  And so forth.  Such saying contain a tiny element of truth.  But if you try to actually plan your life using them you are immediately in deep, deep trouble.  They will head you 180 degrees in the wrong direction.  You might as well model your life on Bart Simpson or Seinfeld.  But try instead "Stand up for your responsibilities  or "I don't know what I need to know and must now devote my full attention and strength to finding out" (consider Prov. 3:7 or 4:7) or "Practice routinely purposeful kindnesses and intelligent acts of beauty."  (page 9-10)  

Flimsy walls

Ezekiel 13
The prophets are rebuked: "when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash".

What areas of my life am I "whitewashing"?

When do I minimize my sin?  Claiming that it is "not that big of deal" or "it is not really affecting anyone else" or "others are worse than me"...

When do I try and cover up for my brokenness?  Distract myself by pointing out the faults of others.  Work hard at maintaining my image.  Allow no one to come close and see what I am truly thinking or feeling.

Perhaps Jesus and I need to work on the foundations of my life a bit more.
Character development not just painting over flimsy walls.

Trespasses or Debts

The Lord's prayer:

"forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven those who trespass against us"
Or
"forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors"

Trespasses or debts.

To trespass means that we have violated the rights of another person.
The most common use of this term is to go on to someone's land without permission, to violate their private property.
To ask for forgiveness for our trespasses is to ask to be forgiven for the way that we have wronged others.  To forgive people for their trespasses is to forgive people for how they have violated our rights.
This is very important, extremely important.

To be in debt means that you owe someone something. 
We could be in debt to someone because we have been bad.  Throwing a brick through someone's window for example.
Of course we can also be in debt for a neutral reason.  I am in debt to the bank, not because I am bad but because they hold the mortgage to my house.
Or we can be in debt to someone because they are good.  When someone helps us we feel that we are in their debt.  Someone helps you move and you feel like you need to pay them back some how.  We become indebted to others because of their goodness.

"forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors"

Stop trying to pay God back for his goodness.  Just accept that he is good and he loves you.  
Bless and encourage people without expecting them to pay you back.  Just bless because you are filled with love.

** Interesting side note: I cannot find an English translation that has trespasses, they all say debts.  As far as I can tell trespasses comes for the book of common prayer put out by the Anglican Church.  I have no idea why it says trespass.

Does God speak?

Hearing God is sometimes difficult.

Why does God not speak more?

These are common feelings and questions.

However

In the book of Jeremiah (25:3-7, 35:14-15) God asks again and again

Why do people not listen to me?  

He speaks - persistently - but people do not listen.

The problem may not be that God is not speaking, it may be that I just do not want to really hear what he is saying.  

Thanksgiving

Being thankful changes how I approach the world.

I see more beauty
I have deeper sense of wonder and amazement
I am happier
I treat others with more respect
I pay attention to the details of my world
I am inspired by people

I guess being thankful helps me see God...

What are you thankful for?