Tag Ephesians

Bible in a Year: Week of September 23 – 29

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Fellow travelers:

Below are the chapters to read this week if you’re following along in my Bible in a year schedule, divided into morning and evening readings.  Follow along any way you want: you can just do the evening reading, flip the morning and evening, or read it all.  Whatever works for you and your schedule!  It doesn’t have to be Bible in a Year for everyone.

This week we finish Jeremiah and move to Ephesians.  Most of the rest of the morning readings this year will alternate between the minor prophets (and Ezekiel) and the rest of the New Testament.

Monday, September 23
Morning: Jeremiah 44-45
Evening: Job 21

Tuesday, September 24
Morning: Jeremiah 46-47
Evening: Job 22

Wednesday, September 25
Morning: Jeremiah 48-49
Evening: Job 23

Thursday, September 26
Morning: Jeremiah 50-52
Evening: Job 24

Friday, September 27
Morning: Ephesians 1-2
Evening: Job 25

Saturday, September 28
Morning: Ephesians 3-4
Evening: Job 26

Sunday, September 29
Morning: Ephesians 5-6
Evening: Job 27

Peacemaking Stones

Todd R Leave a comment

In the Old Testament, King David wanted to build a temple for God, reasoning that people lived in houses, but God has only ever lived in a tabernacle (tent).  Why should people live in a nicer place than God?  However, David was not allowed to build the temple, but God said his son Solomon would build it.  David gives the reason in a speech to Israel from 1 Chronicles 28:2-3:

“I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.  But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’” (emphasis mine)

Since becoming king, David had to fight many of Israel’s neighbors in order to establish peace, which was accomplished by Solomon’s time as king.  But David was not idle regarding the temple; he made many preparations to make Solomon’s job easier when the time came.  After David’s death, Solomon, preparing for construction, worked with Hiram king of Tyre to secure lumber.  In his letter to Hiram, Solomon wrote:

“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.  But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.” – 1 Kings 5:3-4

God wanted His temple – His dwelling place – built under peaceful conditions, by a peaceful leader, not by a warrior.  Under Solomon’s leadership, God’s temple was completed.

Solomon’s temple is no more, but God is now building another temple – another dwelling place – His church.  How do we know this?  Peter wrote that Christians as “living stones are being built up as a spiritual house”[1] and Paul that Christians “also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”[2]  God now spiritually lives in and among His people, not in a physical building.

What does David and Solomon’s experience teach us about the temple God is now building?  We know that Solomon’s temple had to be built by peaceful people, and Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:9, that:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

In the Greek language used in the New Testament, the word for peace comes from the verb “to join,” so peacemaking has to do with joining people together.  Between believers, this means that the more we live like Christ, the more we are able to join together in unity.  From believers to unbelievers, this “joining” means we offer them the love Christ gave us and hope and pray they will join with Him.  When discussing all issues non-essential to salvation, this means we seek to join and not separate, to promote peace instead of discord.

So, with God now building a temple of peacemakers, Paul urges us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[3]  Pray that this Spirit can grow in each of us and in His people worldwide!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

[1] 1 Peter 2:5
[2] Ephesians 2:22
[3] Ephesians 4:3

My 3 Rules of Writing

Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Around the time I launched this blog, I decided on 3 criteria for what I write here to keep myself disciplined not just to regular writing, but to the type of content I wanted to post.  It’s my blog, after all.

My objective is that every post should be these 3 things: Compelling, Clear, and Charitable, meaning:

Is it about something that matters eternally, and is written in a way that connects emotionally and is worth reading? (Compelling)
Is it logical and makes sense, or is it likely to be misunderstood? (Clear)
Is it written in love, to build up whoever reads it? (Charitable)

In a way, these criteria are just a modified version of Ephesians 4:15-16, which says:
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” – Ephesians 4:15-16

The compelling and clear parts are the “speaking the truth,” and the charitable part is the “in love” part.  However, the three criteria are not equal.  If I am compelling and clear, I might come across as clever, smart or a good writer, but without charity, “I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).  Without love, I’ve done it wrong.  Therefore, being compelling and clear should be tools used in service of being charitable.

Although I’ve been posting very regularly recently, including re-using old posts, I know a blog doesn’t have to fill endless airtime like a 24/7 news cycle, where passion and (often faulty) logic dominate in an attempt to draw as many viewers as possible, but I like the daily rhythm when I can do it.  However, love is more important than keeping a daily schedule, so posting daily isn’t one of my rules.  Quality over quantity, I guess.

I’m not perfect and don’t always live up to my own 3 rules, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try!

Do you have rules for your blog, or other social media presence?

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” – Hebrews 10:24

The Economic Solution?

Todd R 2 Comments

What if only one verse from the Bible could solve all of the world’s economic problems?  If one could, it would probably be Ephesians 4:28, where Paul wrote:

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

What if everyone followed the three rules suggested by this one verse?

A fig tree. Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

First, imagine if there was no crime.  “Let the thief no longer steal.”  The Bible tells us that in a perfect world, God’s people “shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid”[1]  Every person will reap the rewards of their effort – their own wine and figs – with no concern for it being taken away from them.

Next, imagine if everyone’s job was productive and meaningful; that each person did “honest work with his own hands.”  What if everyone approached their job as an act of worship, offered to God who sees and knows all?  No dishonesty, no scandal, no nasty office politics, no slacking.

Last, imagine if everyone’s needs were taken care of from the surplus of others.  Imagine if we had the mindset that working in order to have more to share is better than working in order to accumulate for ourselves.

What a world that would be!  So, let’s make these rules into law, enforce them strictly, and we will have a perfect society, right?  Wrong, because rules and laws are not the solution to the world’s problems.  People don’t consistently follow rules, especially when they require that we abandon our selfish ways.  At the root of Adam and Eve’s sin – the sin that taints us all – is that they wanted to do things their own way, making their own choices between good and evil, rather than trusting God to know it for them.  When rebellion is the problem, more or better rules can’t solve it.  Rebellion against God can’t be solved from the outside of us, only from the inside.

However, while sin will always taint us in this world, we are called to, and able to, live differently.  Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  The principles of Ephesians 4:28 apply to God’s people now.

Christians are called not to follow this world’s economic models and incentives, but to “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”[2]  Because in heaven the thief will “no longer steal” and we should desire that God’s “will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we should no longer steal now.  We should know that in any job we should “work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”[3] and we should share with those in need because Jesus told us “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”[4]

Is this possible?  Yes, and Paul modeled some of this for us in his own life.  In Acts 20:34 he said, “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.”  While as an apostle he could have asked each church he founded to fully support his ministry and cover his costs, instead he worked as a tentmaker to show us the principles of Ephesians 4:28 at work.

Maybe one verse can solve all of our economic problems, but only when everyone lives like God knows best.  Our Savior Jesus offers us a world just like that.  All good things are possible.

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

[1] Micah 4:4
[2] Matthew 6:20
[3] Colossians 3:23
[4] Matthew 25:40

David’s Spiritual Battle with Goliath

Todd R 1 Comment

David’s defeat of Goliath is such a popular story that it has become a cliché.  For example, unbalanced games in sports where one team is much better than the other are referred to as “David vs. Goliath.”  In these cases, the storyline is about whether a seemingly physically inferior opponent can beat a physically superior one.  However, this misses the point of the story – that it was a spiritual battle.

On one side of the battle, we have false gods.  After David decided to fight and was approaching Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:43 says: “And the Philistine [Goliath] said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.”  But even though Goliath invoked his gods in curses, he was counting on his size and strength advantage to win the battle.  He was not actually relying on “gods,” and did not expect to win “by his gods”, but by the god of worldly strength and dominance.

Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

On the other hand, David was clear that this was a battle between true and false gods.  In 1 Samuel 17:26, David says “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” and also in verse 37 David says “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”  David was actually trusting in and relying on his God for victory, unlike Goliath who just used his gods’ names in vain.  David knew his relative physical weakness against Goliath was not relevant.

So, to Goliath the battle was David vs. Goliath, but to David it was the true God vs. false gods.  And that’s why David won. David wanted to beat Goliath so “that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hand.” (verse 47)

People also curse us by their gods when we refuse to live by those gods’ standards.  These may be gods of wealth or convenience or rebellion, and many of our spiritual battles are against this world’s gods.

Does it sometimes seem foolish not to make choices based only on what’s best financially?  Is it sometimes inconvenient to worship?  Is it sometimes inconvenient to love our families, congregations, and neighbors?  Is it tempting sometimes to sin “only once” or if we think nobody will find out?

These are battles we all face, but we’re not going to win by doing better by the world’s gods’ standards, but by relying on the true God.  So, a question for us is: do we see these challenges as spiritual battles between true and false gods?  Or do we invoke God in name only like Goliath did, and then rely on our own strength?

The key to the battle between David and Goliath is that David won because 1) he knew his God is real, and 2) because he actually relied on Him.  We can win the same way and overcome the giants that seek to overthrow us.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12