Lecture at the Conference ‘Together for the Gospel’ Bielsk Podlaski, 27 May 2016. Rev. Niek Tramper, pastor IREF Delft (www.iref.nl)
1. Strong…being part of Gods eternal plan of salvation (read Eph. 1:1-11)
(1) The fundament in the Triune God
One of our children at the age of 5 asked once ‘Where was I before I was here?’ Our answer to her: ‘You were already in God’s plan before we knew you. Somebody loved you before we could love you.’
Where was the church before she was here? She existed already in God’s plan, in His eternal will. That’s so clear in Eph. 1. The apostle frequently uses words like ‘will’, or ‘pleasure’ and ‘chosen’, ‘predestined’ in this chapter.
That is the fundament: the eternal council of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. If we think about the church, we immediately start to think about the holy Trinity, this wonderful mystery why God is Three-in-One. The church fathers described the Trinity as the fullness of joy and love. The Son loves the Father, the Son honours the Father. The Spirit has joy in them both. This is what they called the ‘holy dance of love’, the ‘perichoreia. God has enough and had enough in Himself, but He decided to let his joy and love flow to a creation that could even make greater his praise and honour.
From eternity God chose that the Son should be revealed into that earth that was fallen away for Him. Christ, the Son was prepared to accept a human body. He came here not just to give his commands, but -by his suffering, death and resurrection – to create a loving community of his people, who are his body on earth. This is the church.
(2) Adopted in Christ.
He has chosen us in Him. How do we know? Through adoption! Vs. 5: ‘In love He predestines us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will’.
Do you know how adoption ‘works’? One of our congregation members adopted a little girl from South Africa. They gave her the name Rebecca. Rebecca live in an orphanage. Her parents couldn’t care for her. The couple invested a lot. They had years of preparation; they were checked before allowed to adopt the child. But they put all their love in her and finally she could be picked up from the orphanage and become their daughter. They spend a lot of time, energy and money in her. Rebeccah cannot pay back anything. She is fully dependent on the parents who adopted her. That is what the apostle says: God invested his unconditional love in us through Christ. He adopted us in Him. But adoption has two sides. Later when Rebeccah grows up, she will discover that she was adopted. And she also needs to accept, to adopt her parents, in order to enjoy the fullness of childhood. That is why the apostle John says ‘All who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
When did it happen? When times reached their fulfilment. The time that the mystery of God’s will (pleasure) was revealed in the Son, incarnated in human flesh.
Through Him God brought ‘Atonement’ (In English: to make at one). Vs. 10 ‘God brought to unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ’.
(3)Predestined with a purpose
So the NT Church is the physical appearance of God’s pleasure, God’s eternal will in Christ, Gods predestination. That is her honour, her dignity, her beauty, her strength!
But God did this with a purpose. To be elected always means to be elected to something.
To what?
(1) To redemption, forgiveness of sins (vs. 7). You deserved eternal punishment and condemnation, but you received mercy and you were restored as a son or daughter of the living God.
(2) You were chosen to praise Him, to make him the object of all your worship and praise (vs. 12) It means that you find all your lust, pleasure and glory in Him.
(3) to wait in hope for the inheritance that is still promised, the glory of his Kingdom with all the treasures that is still to come. The moment that everything in heaven and earth will be subjected to His power and glory. That every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.
How do we know that we, you and me, may share in this wonderful grace? Vs. 13: ‘You were included in Christ, when you heard the message of the truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and when you were sealed with the mark of the Holy Spirit. Do you see this, do you believe this?
(4) Repaired eyes
The apostle concludes this part with a intensive prayer. ‘That the eyes of your heart may be opened’ What the Romanian pastor Joseph Ton called ‘repaired eyes’, or ‘renewed eyes’. Natural eyes see what is around, all the problems, the quarrels, the division in the churches, the depression, the violence among people. But ‘repaired’ eyes see the mystery of the glory of Christ. These ‘repaired eyes’ only can be given to us in the church.
2. Strong… because united in the body of Christ
The strength of the church is the unity of the church. This is the topic of Eph. 2. And the main point is that the unity of the church is not something that we can establish, or work for, but it is a fact in God. That’s why the apostolic creed says: ‘I believe in one, holy, apostolic church. Let me try to explain shortly how the apostle evolves this point.
(1) Remember what/where you were
First of all there is the call to remember from where you came. Before the Gospel came to your place, you were far form God’s salvation plan, far from God’s promises. You lived your life, but actually you were dead in sins and trespasses. You were strangers, far away. But God brought you near. How did He do this? Through the blood of Christ.
(2) God brought together in one body what was separated
Now the wonder of this blood that it united both those who were without law and those who were under the law. Israel that found reconciliation with God in the blood of lambs and goats, needed the blood of Christ. They needed reconciliation from their self-righteousness and their pride in the law by the blood of the true Lamb, Christ. But those who didn’t know the law of Moses needed the blood to reconcile them from their evil deeds, their hostility toward the living God. Both needed Christ, and He brought them together in His blood. He broke away the wall of separation. He made them one body (16), one new humanity, one holy temple for the Lord, built on the fundament of the prophets and apostles, in which Jesus is the chief cornerstone.
This was a revolutionary thought in the Roman society of those days. Because the Romans did a lot of effort to bring unity in society. One of their means was the common worship of the Emperor. You needed to show that you were a good civilian by burning incense to the emperor. (The Jews were exempted from it, but later they were also obliged to do it). Jews and Christians refused, and they were seen as the ones who spoiled the game. The broke the harmony of the state and they were persecuted heavily.
Now the apostle says there is a fundamental unity through Christ, given in his body. Later in the letter he stresses: ‘there is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all’ (4:6).
(3) What about the disunity of the church?
Where is the church? Not in the building. Not simply in the liturgy, not in the hierarchy, but in the community that is the body of Christy in which all separation walls of personality, social differences, cultural and national differences are broken. This gives a lot to think. W. Nee: there is only one legitimate reason for division in the church: it is geography. We have formed churches based on:
- psychological reasons for unity (sympathy based on personality, character, attractiveness, often explained as theological differences)
- social reasons for unity (belonging to a certain group or class)
- cultural reasons for unity (church that is fully adapted to a dominant culture and language or ethnicity, like many RC or Easter Orthodox churches)
Through this the churches suffer from sectarianism at one hand and compromising with the ruling culture in society at the other hand. Do we feel the pain of dividedness, to maintain the impossible? And we have to confess it started already as soon as the church started to be organized in the first century. We see the separation and bitterness between Paul and Barnabas already. And this sinfulness and separation has accompanied the church till today. But we shouldn’t give up our high calling, because we belong to one body, one bride of Christ.
3. Strong church… because we are HIS people.
(1) The role of the apostle in revealing the mystery of Gods salvation plan
In chapter 3 the apostle writes how the Lord used him to reveal the mystery of His plan to the Gentiles. The word ‘mystery’ is a frequent word in this passage. What was revealed by God to the prophets under a certain cover, now became revealed through the Gospel of Christ. Paul is astonished and thankful that God gave him this grace to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.
But he starts to say that he is a prisoner (3:1), he speaks about sufferings (vs. 13) and repeats his captivity in 4:1. In 3:8 he calls himself the least of all the apostles. From other letters we know how he calls himself a ‘miscarriage’, an ‘abortion’, and in the second letter to the Corinthians he talks a lot about suffering for the Gospel. God has entrusted the treasure of the Gospel to earthen, fragile vessels. Paul was accused that he was not a strong apostle, that his words were weak. That he was not like several other itinerant preachers who were attractive by their eloquence. They were personalities, strong characters. I find it very moving to see the apostle here not as a powerful preacher, but as a humble and weak person bowing his knees in the prison with one great longing: that Christ might dwell in the hearts of the people (vs. 17) and that they –together with all God’s holy people- might understand how wide, and long and high and deep the love if Christ is.
(2) The public and the inner man
If you are a pastor you need to visible. That is your role, function: to preach, to do pastoral work, to instruct. The public man is always fed. And if you stay away for some days, they call you, mail you or phone you. We are needed, wanted. But that can be dangerous, because it can feed pride. It can bring us the idea that we are important, and that we need to do more to feed that ‘public man’. But where is the ‘inner man’. The work that nobody sees: to pray, to suffer, to wrestle, to study. The days that you feel: the task is too much for me! Nobody asks you whether you pray enough, whether you spend enough time with the Lord. But here is our vulnerability. Here are the attacks of Satan. To feed our pride.
Paul, by his example in this passage and by his exhortation and instruction in ch. 4 and 5 reminds the church to follow Christ’s example. Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice. (5:1).
(3) HIS people
In 2010 I attended the big conference of the Lausanne Movement of World Evangelism in Cape Town (with 4500 people from 170 countries of the world). I was greatly impressed by so many brothers and sisters from many parts of the world. It made me humble: who am I in my little corner, being together with all these servants of the Lord? One lecture especially impressed me a lot. The lecture of dr. Chris Wright (UK), who based on the letter of the Ephesians, explained that God’s people are called to be HIS people. Three letters H, I, S, represent: humility, integrity, and simplicity.
- Humility, because we see a lot of pride in the church. Servants of God play on status and career. They abuse their position to exercise control and power over people. There is a lot of pride (secretly and openly). Some pastors always talk about their own performances, how much they did, how many people were converted etc. They call themselves humble, but they are arrogant! They are self-appointed
- Integrity, because we see that they play on popularity, they use manipulation to be attractive, they use the smartest ways of publicity and know how to play with people. They are not honest; they are seeking their interest. Often this is combined with impurity on other fields in life, like immorality, or going too far with the other sex.
- Simplicity. Because they are affected by greed. They long for material gain. They use the gospel to stir up the longing for health and wealth or success in people. They darken the cross. They pass the words of Jesus when he says: ‘blessed are the poor, blessed who mourn..’ In my own words: ‘blessed are those who are here with empty hands.’
(4) Obstacles in God’s mission
There are many obstacles in God’s mission, in His plan to reconcile the world. And we all know about the stubbornness of unbelievers, the longing for a luxury life, the grin face of atheism. But these are not the main obstacles. The main obstacle is: God’s own people. Because they give their time and energy to all kinds of idols. The three main idols are: (1) pride and longing for power (which opposes humility), (2) popularity (which opposes integrity), (3) wealth and greed (which opposes simplicity. Jesus experienced all three seductions when He was tested by the devil. Today we see many self appointed apostles that feed the idol of power, or the idol of popularity, or the idol of prosperity.
In the time of the Reformation these idols were the main problems in the church. But we need a Reformation again, a radical return to the Lord, to repent and walk according to the Gospel, as the apostle explained in this letter.
(5) The lifestyle of the Kingdom
The strong church is the church that lives a new lifestyle of the Kingdom. The old pattern belongs to the ‘old man’ that the apostle describes in chapter 4 and 5. It is the old life of sensuality (giving priority to sexual lusts), impurity because of greed, lies and corruption, anger, revenge and bitterness, stealing somebody’s goods, honour, reputation. It is the way of darkness, greed, corruption, immorality. (4: 18, 19, 25 , 31)
But the new life is transparent, honest. It is speaking the truth (25), not sinning in becoming angry (vs. 29), in words that build up (vs. 29), in forgiveness, kindness, compassion (vs. 32). It is: walking in love (5:2).
This new lifestyle is a mark of life of the church. It indicates something of Gods’ new society in the way we are together in the church (4:18, 19), the way man and woman relate to one another in marriage, in how parents and children deal with each other, in the relationship between bosses (directors) and employees (6:5v). By this they express the hope for God’s new world, God’s Kingdom to come. The moment that little corner of society that is not subject to the glory of Christ. Sometimes you can feel the pain and sorrow because of the lack of God’s glory in different parts of society. But I am thankful especially for those who work as Christians in all corners and bring some little light in the darkness: Christian doctors, journalists, teachers, farmers, housemothers. They bring the light because they adopted the lifestyle of the Kingdom!
The missionary power of the church is not in its activities but in the life that is expressed in its lifestyle. Most people don’t read a Bible. The only Bible they have, are the true Christians. They cannot help but evoke the attention of the people around who still walk in darkness.
4. Strong church… because it is a multi-gifted church (Eph. 4: 1-16)
(1) Discerning the work of the Spirit
(1) The Spirit as the Actor, Giver of rebirth, regeneration, sanctification; (2) the Spirit as gift (the promise of the Father in Acts 1), Who generates many gifts of grace in the church.
(2) The unity of a body
The church is strong because it is diversity in unity, like a body. The parts work together in order to make possible the growth and stability of the body. The parts are different, but they are part of the one body. The parts need one another, also the ‘smaller’ one. No part can take the whole (if it does it acts like a cancer). In Eph 4 the gifts are people (who have a certain task or calling). That is meaningful. God doesn’t use gifts separated from people (people in whom He works, He prepares them, educates them, forms their character and person).
The church doesn’t need sowers, but farmers, doesn’t need midwifes, but mothers.
(3) The secret of life
The secret of developing life in a fertilized egg cell. A little ball of cells, all having the same DNA forms a foetus, a child in development. It is a still a secret in biology why some cells form brains, others muscles, others, an eye. Etc. But it is wonderful to realize that all ltittle parts work together and need one another, like in an eye. It is the gift of life in an organism. The church is an organism, and the Spirit works life in the different parts. It is the life of Christ, the resurrection life in His body. Through His Spirit He prepares his bride to become pure and holy and to be ready as his bride.
(4) Discovering our place in the body
It means that you cannot compare the church with a bus full of passengers and only one man, the driver brings them to their destination. Even not people in a rowing boat, all doing the same. Or even a choir: different voices under one director. It is more a growing family, where everybody has his place and function. It is more like a body, parts working together and growing to a stable and good functioning body under one head. And the head is Christ.
It is important to discover our place, our task, the gift that the Spirit brings to the church in order to build up the church. The Spirit uses our character, personality, experience, training, our longing, and transforms it into a gift for the body. And through the body the people around are blessed.
This is true for the local church. But it is also true for the national church (That’s why ‘Together for the Gospel’ is important). Or for the worldwide church. My church in Delft is an international church and it represents people from all parts of the world. Many cultures, languages. Not always easy, but we experience how much we can help one another
5. Strong church because it is an armoured church (Eph 6:10).
The armour is provided by God. It is necessary because there is an enemy (Satan who works through the powers, influences, trends, patterns of this world). He has occupied the world illegally. And evil will multiply (till the day of evil). It will ripen to eternal condemnation and judgement. The greatest weapon of the Church is continuous prayer (Eph. 6:18). That is calling for God’s power in our weakness. It is the rails on which the locomotive of God’s power can come (W. Nee).
Geef een reactie