The need to put my foot down

Today I have to start walking on my surgically-repaired foot after 6 weeks of non-weight-bearing.  I am afraid.  It hurts.  I don’t like it.  I feel weak.  Even though the doctor says it is ready for weight, it does not feel secure and I have trouble believing him.  When I put my foot down on the floor and it hurts, it causes me to suddenly believe that getting rid of that discomfort is the most important thing.  It feels urgent.  It feels scary and risky.  I want to stop trying, and get on my now-comfortable and now-preferable knee scooter and just keep zooming around rather than slowly and painfully hobbling along.

Today I am also studying the temptation of Christ in Matthew. When Jesus was tempted, he was put in a place of weakness (hunger) and scary risk (the pinnacle of the temple) and opportunity for ill-gotten reward.  His trust in the Father’s Word as primary and fully dependable was being examined and tried.

Both Jesus and the devil quote scripture during that interaction.  The devil mis-uses scripture during that time of temptation, essentially telling Jesus to manipulate God with Psalm 91:11-12, but Jesus catches on to what Satan is doing.  It is interesting that the scripture that Satan misuses to tempt Jesus does, in fact, come true at the end of the time of temptation when the angels minister to Jesus.

What does this passage tell me about my own inordinate fear of physical risk or weakness?  I think it means that risk and weakness are not as fearsome as I imagine them to be.  They are not to be the controlling factor in my life that they so often are.  Though it is not the case that God will spare me all physical pain and temptation, it IS the case that God will CARE for me like he cared for Jesus, sustaining me and binding me up physically afterwards.  But, as Jesus makes clear, these physical events are not the primary realities of my life.  Worshipping and serving God according to His Word is primary and fully dependable. 

I can try out this truth and prove it, by forcing myself to walk on my foot despite my feelings of weakness and discomfort; by taking the risks that He calls me to in the knowledge that He will care for me.  Psalm 91 is not only for Jesus, but for “whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High”(v.1).  That includes me.  In this Psalm, I am promised rest, salvation, refuge, shielding, deliverance from fear, safety, guarding, and victory.  I will be spared the punishment of the wicked.  Yet, Jesus did have to go through the discomfort of the temptation.  I also will still have troubles (v.15) but God will be with me in them and God ill show me his salvation.  This truth exists both in the already and the not yet.  Already accomplished and not yet fully manifested.  But there is a lot of already that can be tasted here and now, if I am willing to live on every word that come from the mouth of God.  And if I am willing to just put my foot down.

Rambling

Today I'm going to ramble around. I don't want to lay a guilt trip on myself, but I see I had 17 posts in Feb, 14 in March, 9 in April, 5 in May, 0 in June until now. There is a pattern to again take note of. I start enthusiastically and when my enthusiasm fades, so does my effort. Hmmm.

Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!

This was yesterday's sermon. And I need God to do more than I ask or imagine because my asking and imagining fizzles out. It is a comfort to know that God has provided for that. Yet I don't want to use God's 'more' as an excuse to live 'less'. Kurt reminded us that this more-ness of God should enable us to live large, to risk and to expect and to be amazed at God's work. That's what I want to do.

Kvelling on God's reconciling work

Aaron preached on Ephesians 2:11-17, and I looked back to my April entry and saw that I also studied it before I started backtracking. The challenge of this passage is not the conceptual understanding -- I don't find the concept of unity between Jew and Gentile (or interracial reconcilation in general) difficult at all, nor to I find it hard to see that our way of salvation is the same, both through the blood of Jesus. The challenge of this passage for me is more emotional: Paul is laying out God's exciting purpose, and I don't really feel that excited. God made great sacrifice to bring Jew and Gentile together to create one people, and I tend to treat it in a blase manner.

I regret (but tend to accept) the cultural divisions that exist in the church today. I find that I don't really lament or grieve them, nor do I get that super-excited over the vision that God has, except when I'm sitting in church and someone else preaches about it or it is the theme of the worship or singing. Then I 'feel' it -- but day-to-day I tend to forget all about it as my personal daily concerns supercede everything else.

To Paul, though, it is front and center. God's vision for creating a unified purpose IS his personal daily concern!

I am reminded of Dr. Goldenhersch, at HSSC, teaching us the meaning of the word 'kvell', and kvelling on her children and grandchildren. Maybe I should be kvelling on God's vision for his people.

Merriam-Webster definition for kvell
Pronunciation: \ˈkvel\
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Yiddish kveln to be delighted, from Middle High German quellen to well, gush, swell
Date: circa 1952
: to be extraordinarily proud : rejoice


This is what Paul does all through Ephesians so far. He kvells constantly on the wonderful will and work of God.

Ephesians 2: 6-10 Sermon notes from Steve's sermon

Last week: (same passage) How bad it was, how good we now have it.

This week: Works -- Is it the right thing to do to really work at anything? Are grace and works really opposite? What is the relationship between them?

There's a time to let go of works and there's a time to embrace works. This passage helps us figure this out.

We are saved by grace, not by works. (v8) This lets us know there's no place to boast. God helps us -- NOT "God helps those who help themselves". All of salvation by faith is a gift. Our salvation is not meritorious. Faith is an instrument that God gives us that allows us access to this salvation he has made available.

What are we supposed to do with faith? First, we need to let go of works. Take inventory again and often -- do we hope to make ourselves presentable to God by our accomplishments, so we can say "in God's eyes I'm okay"? That's like slapping on a coat of paint over rotted walls. If we're hiding behind works, we should let go of them. God is the only one that can restore us.

We need to receive and cherish this gift of salvation -- use it, talk about it, etc. -- not put it up on a shelf somewhere. Look to grace instead of works when it comes to our salvation.

Yet there is a time to embrace works. We are created for good works. Works involve exertion. Works that bring God glory. We are called to 'stay in the game'. Works were prepared in advance for us to do. We can't do good works in our own power, but must do them in union with Christ, which means to be in the word of God to make sure we are continuing to learn about Jesus and be guided by him.

Look at our works as stemming from the grace we've been given, and issuing forth from that grace. There's a real purpose behind grace, and it involves being his handiwork made for good works. Let go of works when you find you're trying to hide behind them, but embrace works when you have received the gift of the gracious giver who is behind them.

Ephesians to the family

Does anyone besides me write out paraphrases of passages directed to themselves to try to figure out what they really mean? Here is one I started -- don't know if I'll ever finish it -- but I envisioned saying what Paul says to the Ephesians to my own family...

Gail Havens, a follower of Jesus who is a wife, mother, crafter, and educator by the will of God,

To the Havens saints, also followers of Jesus.

I (and Paul) wish you grace and peace the Father and the Lord Jesus.

I give praises to God for the way he has blessed all of us spiritually. He actually chose us to be forgiven through the work of Jesus way before we were born. He planned to adopt us into his family because he wanted to -- it would give him pleasure and it would show him off as a God who forgives freely because he loves his son Jesus. All because of Jesus' work on the cross, we have been snatched back from eternal seperation from God and forgiven for all our sins. When God lavishes forgiveness on us, don't think he doesn't know how bad we really are -- he has complete wisdom and understanding of us. As each of us was brought to him and made a profession of faith, we saw his purpose at work in our life, which is part of the Great Purpose -- to bring EVERYTHING and EVERYONE together under the rule of Jesus.

The Apostles followed Jesus, just like God planned beforehand that they would, to give glory to Jesus. Then, later, we also were included as followers of Jesus when we heard and accepted the truth that sending Jesus was God's plan to forgive our sins. At that time, God marked each of us with the Holy Spirit, who will keep on reminding us of God until the time comes that we're actually face to face with him in his kingdom.

Paul (and I) never stop thanking God for his work in each of your lives. I hope and pray that you keep on following Jesus...

The enemies and the great reversal

The sermon this week focused just on the first six verses of chapter 2, and I am only writing today about the first three:

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

I was dead in my transgressions before I became a Christian. I was by nature an object of wrath. This is strange to think about in the context of the fact that we baptise infants and claim God's promises for our children at this young age. Is William, at 4 months old, a dead object of wrath (and, at the same time, a precious and loved child of God)? How can that be? The question I really don't want to ask is "If this precious baby died without having become a believer, would he go to heaven?" How can you say he's a dead object of wrath, and also maintain that God would bring him home to heaven? Or, what if I had been hit by a car and died a month before I accepted Christ back in 1969? What would have happened to me?

It makes no sense except for the glorious fact of God's sovereignty over the world, from the smallest child to the largest movements of nations. God protects the eternal life of ALL his children and brings them home to him at the time he has ordained. Even though we believers go through a time of being 'dead' as we become responsible for our actions and have not yet embraced Christ for ourselves, I think that even that time of deadness does not occur outside of the circle of God's providence, and is not our final state according to God's plan and promise. God's will and power supercede the possiblity of one of his own being lost. In other words, those people don't die until God says so. This is perfectly in sync with the FACT that 'the church is not peripheral to the world, but the world is peripheral to the church' (this phrase quoted from the sermon). God IS the final power. God's plan to make a people for himself IS the real reality and purpose within the stream of life, and all events need to be understood in relation to this reality. We need not fear that God will mess it up.

Backtracking

Ephesians 1:19-23

18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

The sermon Sunday made it definitely worth going back to this passage.

Some nuggests from the sermon:
-Overall theme of Ephesians: Cosmic Reconciliation
-The church is the most significant and beautiful place in the world. Christ has been exalted to the supreme place in the universe, and what's going on in the church is the heart of the action.
-The church is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.

I often live as if being a Christian is somethng that is a private option for people, sort of a sideline, not to be brought out overtly in my public or work life, or my everyday commerce. In fact I am uncomfortable when people are 'too open' about their faith at work; or I cringe and draw away. Now, there is such a thing as speaking inappropriately -- however, if what Kurt said about this passage is true, then I must remember that there is no place that the truth of Christ is not relevant and even ofprimary importance!. So -- athough every expression of my faith would not be appropriate in every situation, there is an appropriate expression of faith for every situation because Christ is over all and in all, and I am primarily a follower of Christ whether I am at work or at the store or at home. An appropriate expression may be in certain actions or in certain words, and possibly it is verbal more often than I have thought. But mainly I need to absorb the idea that the workplace is not 'over' Christ, nor are modern ideas of social or political correctness 'over' Christ. Therefore, although it makes me uncomfortable, it may actually be appropriate at times to ignore conventions and speak out. Social approbation is nothing compared to the possibility of whetting someone's appetite for Christ, and letting them know that I am someone who is willing to tell them about him. I need to be ready and willing to give an account for myself and my actions at all times, even to random people when the opportunity arises. The more I do that, the more they know that Christians are all over the place, which might be an encouragement to seek God.