Wilderness Wanderings

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (Colossians 2:6-7)

Jesus is the basis of our faith. He's the reason for our service, our prayers, our confession, our worship. He is the reason that we continue to live our lives in Him and walk in love. It is Christ that is being revealed in us as we live our everyday lives. That is God's intention for us.

In these verses Paul gives us two images. The first image is that of being rooted. This word implies something that has already happened (we received Jesus as Lord) and continues on with us in the present (He is still the Lord of our life). This 'rooting in faith' is our union with Christ. A union where it is not there for a season and then dies, such as would happen to an annual flower, but rather, a perennial faith that is rooted in the soil of enduring faith in and through Christ in the midst of every storm and every hardship that may come our way. We, as a perennial plant remain rooted in Christ. He is the foundation of our faith.

The second image we see is that of being built up. Such that Christ is the fabric or the building blocks that holds the entire building, ourselves, in place. Without Him, the building could not stand. It would simply collapse. And so Christ is both the life of the plant and the binding force of the building. We are to continue to live our lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him.

But Paul doesn't finish his sentence there. He continues on telling the Colossians to remain strengthened in the faith that they were taught. He wants them to increase in the knowledge of their faith and in the experience of its power in their lives. Paul wants the Colossians to have and excellent grasp of their faith and to put that faith into practice. Not only for themselves but as a part of the very fabric of their lives. Rooted, built up and strengthened in the faith.

Paul then adds some crucial words, "overflowing with thankfulness." I love this! We are to not only be thankful, but to be overflowing with thankfulness! This makes me think of a picture of a cup overflowing over its rim, literally brimming over with thankfulness. True thankfulness is given in humility and directs our heart towards God, who directs our growth and our steps. This in turn, compels us to turn our praise and our thanks towards God. Overflowing thankfulness for the abundance of life that he has given to us in Christ.

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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21).

We have spent several days exploring Paul's three-fold outrageous and audacious prayer here in Ephesians 3. Today, lets allow this conclusion, this doxology, to sift through our souls.

Let us begin with a quote from C.S. Lewis, "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased (sermon, "The Weight of Glory").

I think Paul would have liked that. As he finishes his outrageous and audacious prayer, he wants our faith in God to be deepened. The things we have asked in this prayer are the kind of things that God does and much more.

To grasp this doxology, we need to begin with this basis: our God does things. He is not like the gods of the Old Testament who could not do a thing, nor is he like the force in Star Wars, which remains largely unknown. He is a person, so we can know him and communicate with him. He can hear our requests and respond to them out of his love and goodness.

Because God is not like a vending machine, we can become hardened towards him. We begin to doubt that he is at all interested in us. Is he listening at all? Does he care?

According to Psalm 139, he knows us inside and out. So even if we are too shy to ask or think our prayers are too outrageous, he knows them. And out of his love and goodness, he will answer them. He is able to do these things. And willing!

Remember, God does not measure out his grace in little bits and pieces. He does not give it out according to how much we deserve. The Biblical image is of God pouring out his grace in buckets full, an unlimited supply poured out of heavens gates.

How will he answer? you ask.

"Through the power that is already at work in us!"

What is that power? It is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That is the power of God working in us. That power can raise us from our spiritual deadness and sloth. It is the power that will transform us so that we can begin to comprehend the love of God. Power over sin...weakness...fear...shame...despair...rage...lust…greed...pride...guilt.

These are the things that beat us down. These are the things that make our lives miserable. God promises his power to overcome such things so that we can be people who love. It is available to you and me. It is all available to us. this is the personal power of God at work in us to overcome the particular darknesses within us.

Unlike the impersonal Star Wars force which can be used for good or bad, the power of God is only at work for the good, at work in the Christian and the Church. He works in us with his divine power so that we may be useful participants in his new society: the church. The church, believe it or not, is God's showpiece, showing off his glory, how beautiful the new creation is! Well, that's what God is working towards.

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Romans 12:1-2 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN QUESTIONS:

1. How can the story of the hen and the pig lead us astray? Where does Romans 12 begin?
2. What do these verses say about worship? How does this challenge your understanding of worship? How will you re-shape your life as you think about yourself as a full-bodied worshipper?
3. What communities, authorities, and media have shaped your mind? What experiences and information have been most influential?
4. How is the mind transformed? Develop other images for transformation.
5. What's the result of transformation?

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Although all people belong to God, not all people are children of God. To imitate God we must be his children. Although God loves all that He has made, he calls Christians His children and calls us to imitate him by walking in the way of love, imitating the sacrificial love of Christ for us, His beloved children. In his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer writes "What is a Christian? The question can be answered in many ways, but the richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God for his Father."

John 1:12-13 says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." A foundational part of our identity as Christians is that we are children of God and He is our Father. A child naturally seeks to emulate the words and actions that they hear and see in their loving father. Believers in Christ are likewise to imitate God.

Just as children are representatives of their families, Christians are representatives of God to the outside world. Christianity is more than a title or a moral code however. We can never serve or give or even obey our way into God's kingdom. Because without love we gain nothing and our service and gifts and obedience fall flat.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor 13:1-3) We are to walk in love because of the knowledge of what Christ has done for us. This gives glory to God.

To follow or to be imitators of God comes from the Greek word mimetes which means to imitate or mimic. This is also where the word mime originates. A mime tells a story without using any words, but through actions only. So is this passage calling us to a life active in love.

The phrase translated "walk in love" refers in the original Greek to "continuing in selfless love" with the word "walk" meaning an action that is continuous and ongoing. This is the only place in Scripture where this phrase is found. It's interesting that the word "walk" is used here. Paul could have said that we are to run or sprint in love, but instead he used walking to demonstrate a purposeful and consistent habit or practice. So, we are to imitate God by continually living a selfless and purposeful life. Our actions revealing that love to the world.

When we look to the life of Christ we see the example that we are to imitate. He prayed, and He meditated and memorized God's Word. He revealed how much he loved the world by healing the lame, raising the dead, seeking the lost, forgiving the sinners, feeding the hungry, and ultimately giving up His own life in order that those who believe in His name could live in Him.

Jesus never asked a favour, He never wanted anything in return, He didn't hold a grudge or pass undue judgement. We didn't earn His love. He gave it away freely and without reservation, loving completely and unendingly. In the verse preceding our verses for today Paul writes, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ, God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).

This is the life we are to imitate. This is the life we are to live. A life of love. Continuously, graciously, openly. Revealing the love of Christ by the life we live for all to see.

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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21).

We have spent a few days considering the outrageous and audacious requests which Paul makes before he concludes with the doxology of our text. Today, I want to consider the third of these requests, which is "and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (19).

Of the three, this may be the most difficult to pray. Its an oxymoron: two things which cannot both be true at the same time. Paul asks God to help us know this love that surpasses knowledge. How can this be? To use an analogy, when Louis Armstrong was asked to explain jazz, he said, "Man, if I've got to explain it, you ain't got it." This is true of many jokes as well. You either get them or you don't; the humour is lost in explanation.

God's love for us is beyond knowing with the mind. It washes over us at the most unexpected moments. But in those flashes, we can almost grab hold of it, and we know we are as close to 'getting it' as we are likely to get in this life. Yet, in those glimpses all fear and anxiety is washed away as be bask in the reality that God does truly love us with an inextinguishable passion.

This part of the prayer is also difficult because, knowing this love, we get filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. We end up echoing John the Baptism, "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30). That is not easy to pray or describe. Paul's finding it nearly impossible to use words to portray what he means. His image is akin to when you forget that you are pouring tea into a tiny cup – the tea pours over the cup, fills the saucers and runs over onto the coffee table. And this is the issue for us: so much of God in us, no room left for us.

But that is not quite right either. Its better to say, so much of the life of Christ in us, all the old life of sin and death has been washed out. If all this seems to be a bit much, it's a good thing that Paul's friend Peter agrees with him. He put it this way,

[God's] divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (2 Peter 1:3-4).

And like Paul, Peter indicates that we cannot experience this full Christian life by sitting in our lazy boy. We need to get on with it, so he writes, "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith…" (2 Peter 1:5) and he goes on to list all sorts of characteristics we ought to work on.

At the bright center of the universe there is love. Abounding, unimaginable love. It is the source of all we know. It is the deepest answer to our hardest questions. It is our destiny. We are its object. Paul wants all Christians to be filled up to the brim of as much of this very love as God can pour in. Because when that happens, the end of the matter is never-ending glory. Forever and ever.

I think we often underestimate this apostle. We know him as a preacher and a letter writer and a church planter. But I have a suspicion that he would like to be known as a pray-er. He not only preached but prayed that believers would be strengthened within, established in love, and filled with God Himself. I think we do well, to join him in that.

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9

Every person on the earth belongs to God because God created our world, and He created each one of us. Just as a potter or a woodworker creates with their hands and what they create is theirs, belongs to them, so God created our world, everything, and everyone in it and so we belong to Him.

But for the Christian, there is a deeper truth to this statement of belonging. We don't only live in a world where God has ownership over us and so dictates our every action. That is called slavery. God did not create in order to fill the world with slaves that would do His will. He created for His glory. He chose the nation of Israel as His chosen and beloved people and this promise is for us today too.

In today's verse Peter is speaking to a predominantly Gentile population. But what he is saying is rooted in the promise of God to Israel. "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5-6a). In the words "kingdom of priests" we see the entire nation of Israel included in this call. The whole nation was to model holy living, be a witness to the glory and beauty of the Lord their God and to draw people from other nations into a saving relationship with God.

Priests in Israel were holy men who were set apart to serve in the tabernacle and later in the temple. They were given the responsibility of presiding over religious rituals and sacrifices required by the law. Their purpose was to help the Israelites maintain their relationship with God. In calling the Gentiles, and in extension, us, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, God's special possession, Peter is charging us with that same responsibility. To do and speak those things that set us apart and that will help other people maintain or move towards a personal relationship with God.

But like Pastor Michael said yesterday, the Christian life is not automatic. It is relational, just like life. We were created to be in relationship with God and with others. We are a part of a larger family of God. A priesthood of believers. A people set apart.

I want to make mention of a little word that starts today's verse. The word "but." When this word appears in Scripture at the start of a verse like this, it's often a note to pay attention. Here, it is showing us the contrast between that which was before, where in verse 8 Peter talks of the disobedient who stumble, and that which he says in verse 9, that these Christians are a chosen people. So, although all people belong to God, we, His people are His special possession. And why are we given this honour? So that we might declare the praises of God! He who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light!

In both the Old and New Testaments light and darkness are used as metaphors for good and evil, chaos and order, truth and untruth, life and death. The very first creative act of God was to say "Let there be light!" and He separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:3-4). Before these Christians which Peter is speaking to knew Christ, they were living in darkness—the darkness of not knowing God—the darkness of a life without the guidance, hope and love that can be found in Christ alone. But now God has embraced them as His very own. They are not alone. They are now living a life of belonging to God and of belonging to one another. A royal priesthood, a people set apart, the family of God. Not as separate from one another but joined in Christ to one another and to God Himself in order to bring God glory by revealing Him to the world through their holy living.

As the beloved and chosen of God, we have been called to be a beacon of light to the world. The light of Christ. The picture of a people that are living a life of light, of love, of good, order, truth and life. Abundant life. Life in community. The community of a family. The family of God.

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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21).

In our text, Paul prays that God will receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. The church and Christ Jesus belong together, Jesus died and rose again for the sake of the church. "I will build my church," he said, after Peter's profession of faith. The book of Revelation shows us that in the end, all glory will be given to God for his great work of redeeming the cosmos. The church is the first fruits of this redeeming work. We are meant to be the first to give him glory!

But we resist!

And if you are a Star Trek fan, you will know the phrase, "Resistance is futile." But in the Christian life, resistance is not futile. Let me explain. John expresses God's heart with these famous words, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). What does eternal life look like? Jesus explains, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).

Eternal life is not some future existence. It is life lived by Jesus' Spirit and in Jesus' resurrection power now and here on this earth. This is what we resist. We do not want to live the life of love, its too difficult. It calls for too much sacrifice. That is why Paul's second outrageous and audacious request in Ephesians 3 is, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…

To say that the Christian life is all about love is not an understatement. This is the way of it, like it or not, if you want to be a Christian, life will be about love. First, we are rooted, a botanical image and established, an architectural image, in love. This is our foundation. Nothing else will do except God's love towards us in Christ. It is the bedrock of the Christian life: that we are loved by God out of our sin and death riddled existence into the wonderful life of Christ.

Each of us, must have this experience individually. But the Christian life is not an individual life. If we are to truly know this love, we must know it together. Only as we live it out together can we begin to plummet its vastness. This love is not something we just receive, it begins there, but only as it flows through us towards other Christians, that is the church, and beyond, can we say that we know this love.

This prayer assumes that the Christian life is not automatic. Life from God comes as a gift, but it is not magic. It is a life of engagement, cooperation with God's Spirit, who makes Christ and his love known. Life is relational, and relations require time and investment. God intended from the first for humans to live in relation to him and with each other. With God's Spirit taking up residence in us, that intent is realized.

When the church met regularly on Sundays it was easy to assume we were is relation with each other. Now that we do not meet regularly, how will be live in loving relationship with each other? That is a question each of us must answer. Love is action. What will you do?

You can try to resist the Spirit's work, but in the end the Spirit will lead you into the life of love. So, let's stop resisting and let's walk in step with the Spirit.

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)

Psalm 24 reveals both the origins of the world and God's ultimate purpose in the world. A Psalm of praise to our God! The One who created the world and every creature and person in it, and the One who is redeeming that world as we await the coming promise. We can't ever compete with God or exalt ourselves above God by attempting to control our circumstances or dictate the way our world should be. The created can never be exalted above its Creator.

God ultimately created our world for His own purposes, for His own joy and for His own glory and renown. The earth belongs to Him. We are creations of the Creator. We belong to Him.

Every person on earth belongs to God. The one who is devoted to God and the one sitting on the fence of faith. The addict, the homeless, the convict, those who are smooth-talking to get their own way, and those who are broken and hopeless. Those who believe and those who vehemently oppose God…every person on earth belongs to God. "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

God's intention for the world is that He himself would fill it. His love, His joy, His glory, His presence.

God created us not just with the capacity to worship, but with the need to do so. Whether we worship and glorify the news, or a sports team or material possessions, or our own image, or our Holy God…we were created to worship, to give our love and our devotion to another. David understood that when he wrote this Psalm. He understood that he was the created of God. The Philistines, as Thursday's reflections show us, did not. But they did learn to respect God. God doesn't just want our respect though. He wants our devotion. He wants our all.

"Don't you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself" (1 Cor 6:19). We don't belong to ourselves. We were created to glorify God! We were created to reveal Him to the world.

Psalm 24 is a Psalm revealing the power and the glory of our Lord. He Created our world for His glory and to reveal Himself to all who live in it. "Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—he is the King of glory" (v 7, 10).

This Psalm helps us to reframe the focus of our lives. God created the earth and filled it with animals and with people that are designed to resonate with and reflect the glory and the presence of God in our world. We are designed to fill the earth with His praise. We are created to reflect and to see the beauty of the Lord in ourselves, in others around us, in our homes, in our world.

So, celebrate God today! We belong to God. As we go about this day and every day we can live faithfully and obediently into that promise reflecting His glory for the world to see. Praise be to God!

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

NO DIVE IN QUESTIONS TODAY

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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen! (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Last time, I mentioned that our text ends a prayer in which three outrageous and audacious requests are made of God. Paul ends with doxology, reassuring the new fledgeling church that this God they now serve is able to do these things and even more.

Today, I want to consider the first of these requests. Here it is, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (3:16-17).

This prayer is rooted in Jesus own teaching when he said, "it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly" (Mark 7:22). Echoing Jesus, the Heidelberg Catechism teaches us to confess that "I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor" (A 5).

This is the human problem. The main problem is not a lack of good education, it is not bad parenting, it is not a lack of resources or growing up in the wrong neighbourhood. All of these may be contributing factors and not insignificant, but the root problem of the human condition is the human heart. Else where in the Bible it is put this way, "each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death" (James 1:14-15).

How often do we not give in to temptation? How often have we not determined to do better but failed? So many times, we have committed ourselves to the way of love, but found selfishness winning the day. Is there any hope? Yes! Absolutely yes, prays Paul.

Christ dwells in us. And more than that, out of God's glorious riches God strengthens us with power through his Spirit in our inner beings, that is, our hearts. This is not a reference to our biological heart, but the place where thoughts, feelings, desires, and decisions come from.

God strengthens us so that we can resist the temptations we face. The Spirit changes us so that we are no longer filled with sexual immorality, any kind of impurity or greed; nor are we spewing forth obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking (cf. Eph. 5:3-4). Rather, we say only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, we act with kindness and compassion to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us (cf. Eph. 4:29,32).

God's power in our hearts through faith: that is the hope for us. This is the solution. As the Heidelberg Catechism says, "we do good because Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like himself" (A 86).

Reading the Bible and prayer are helpful; participating in church life is beneficial; volunteering at the local Food Bank may be a way of expressing our love, but the key to the transformed Christian life is Christ in us through faith. Our hope is not in our ability to change or our determination to do better. Our hope is in God!

That is Paul's first outrageous and audacious prayer: that Jesus, living in us powerfully through his Spirit will give us the new engine we need for a transformed life, a new heart. When we say, "I can't forgive her," Paul responds, "I pray that you may be strengthened in..." When we say, "I can't help that person, he is too needy." Paul says, "I pray that you..." When we say, "I can't participate in that ministry, I'm not qualified." Paul says, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Believe it!