Bible Snapshots

Today we turn the letter to the Ephesians. Although there is some dispute as to whether Paul or one of his disciples actually wrote this letter it definitely has Pauline influence running through its pages. 

This letter emphasises how Jesus’ work on the cross should permeate every aspect of the Ephesian’s  everyday lives, changing how they serve and love one another despite their differences. God’s vision for the new humanity is that they would be unified through the Spirit and their belief in the Messiah, overcoming barriers of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and cultural identity.

Put on Your New Humanity Paul calls the church at Ephesus to become new humans that live and love like Jesus, promising that the Spirit will equip them to stand strong against divisive forces and spiritual evil.

I read about an instant cake mix that was a big flop. The instructions said all you had to do was add water and bake. The company couldn’t understand why it didn’t sell—until their research discovered that the buying public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water. Apparently people thought it was too easy. So the company altered the formula and changed the directions to call for adding an egg to the mix in addition to the water. The idea worked and sales jumped dramatically.

That story reminds us of how some people react to the plan of salvation. To them it sounds too easy and simple to be true, even though the Bible says, “By grace you have been saved through faith.; it is the gift of God, not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9). They feel that there is something more they must do, something they must add to God’s “recipe” for salvation. 

They think they must perform good works to gain God’s favour and earn eternal life. But the Bible is clear—we are saved, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:5).

Unlike the cake-mix manufacturer, God has not changed His “formula” to make salvation more marketable. The gospel we proclaim must be free of works, even though it may sound too easy..

Secure our steps, O God—

on rough terrain, 

on shifting sands,

on fine, wide roads,

on narrow paths.

Make our footsteps firm.

Secure our steps, O God—

in the boardroom,

at the water cooler,

in the school yard,

in the checkout line.

Make our footsteps firm.

Secure our steps, O God—

chasing after deadlines,

trailing after toddlers,

scrambling toward the finish line,

clamoring for security.

Make our footsteps firm.

Secure our steps, O God—

pacing through hospitals,

wandering through the hurt,

tripping over the unforeseen,

meandering through the grief.

Make our footsteps firm.

Amen.Secure our steps, O God—

on rough terrain, 

on shifting sands,

on fine, wide roads,

on narrow paths.

Make our footsteps firm.

Secure our steps, O God—

in the boardroom,

at the water cooler,

in the school yard,

in the checkout line.

Make our footsteps firm.

Secure our steps, O God—

chasing after deadlines,

trailing after toddlers,

scrambling toward the finish line,

clamouring for security.

Make our footsteps firm.

Secure our steps, O God—

pacing through hospitals,

wandering through the hurt,

tripping over the unforeseen,

meandering through the grief.

Make our footsteps firm.

Amen.

Bible Snapshots

Paul’s next letter confronts the Galatians for relying on the laws of Torah (especially circumcision) to ensure they belonged as members of God’s family. He calls this a “different Gospel” because, since the beginning, the real good news has never been about earning an entrance into God’s family. 

To prove this, Paul points back to Abraham as a prime example, reminding readers that Abraham never earned his right relationship with God. Instead, he believed and trusted God’s promise that one day, all nations would find God’s blessing through him and his descendants. God’s plan has always been to have a family of people who relate to him on the basis of trust, not the Law. The Law, as good as it is, does not provide the power to change—what the Law cannot do, Jesus fully accomplishes.

Through Jesus, the promised offspring of Abraham, God’s blessing comes to all nations. His blessing releases his Spirit to all those who trust Jesus, and his Spirit invites and empowers all humanity to live a new life of love in his family. Followers of Jesus are called to cultivate this new life, but they are not required to be circumcised or keep Jewish customs. Paul says that what really matters is God’s new creation, the family of people who trust in Jesus and learn to love God and others through the power of the Spirit.

The great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini was legendary for his fits of rage. The librarian of one of Toscanini’s orchestras was particularly vexed by the maestro’s habit of throwing valuable musical scores at the musicians when angry. Watching closely, the librarian observed that Toscanini’s first act when enraged was to take his baton in both hands and try to break it. If the baton snapped, Toscanini usually calmed down and rehearsal continued. If the baton did not break, he began hurling scores.

The librarian’s solution? He made sure the conductor had a generous supply of flimsy batons on hand for rehearsal!

Paul’s solution was that as followers of Christ the should bear the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)

Someone has tabulated the fruit of the Spirit in this way.

Joy - Lover in Jubilation; Peace - Love in Repose; Long-suffering - Love on Trial; Gentleness - Love in Society; Goodness - Love in Action; Faith - Love in Endurance; Meekness - Love at School; Temperance - Love in Discipline. So we pray…

Lord, we would grow with you

and bring forth fruit

that is pleasing to you

fed by your living water

giving sustenance to others

Lord, we would grow with you 

Bible Snapshots

In Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians, we discover that after  a painful visit, he writes an open letter with a message of forgiveness for the church at Corinth. He makes it clear that he is committed to them and building on his message of unity through the Gospel from his first letter. 

Paul continues to address some of the church’s challenges raised in the first letter and encourages them to embrace the humble life of Jesus, the paradox of the cross that requires humility and servanthood instead of wealth and status.

Paul’s message to the Corinthians encourages them to live in a new way, embracing the cruciform life of Jesus. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus’ followers can live differently and model generosity, humility, and weakness. 2 Corinthians is a letter about living in a totally counter-cultural way as we seek to live like Jesus did.

At the Army Training Camp at Fort Dix, New Jersey, there is a large box at the entrance with a large hole on top. Here, you may drop in that box, without fear, any illegal substance—drugs, alcohol, knives, guns,—and begin a new life in the army. But, if you keep them and are caught, you are held accountable.

Newness of life supposes newness of heart. Walking in Scripture stands for the course and character of one’s life, which must be new. Walk by new rules, towards new ends, from new principles. Make new choices of direction. Choose new paths to walk in, new leaders to walk after, new companions to walk with. “Old things should pass away, and all things become new. 

This newness is to be alive to God through Christ. To converse with God, to have a regard for Him, a delight in Him, a concern for Him: This is to be alive to God.

Renewing Creator and Ruler of the Earth,

we lift up our voices, our eyes, our hearts,

our lives to You in praise.

Make us Your alleluia people.

Uphold the weary,

for whom praise may be very difficult.

Humble the strong, for whom "alleluia" may be too easy.

Creator and Ruler of the Earth,

continue to form us into Your new creation,

that we might welcome You to more fully become

 the ruler of our hearts and minds.

Through Him who came as a servant,

and who now reigns over all creation,

Jesus, our Christ. Amen.

 

Bible Snapshots

1 Corinthians:  Paul writes to the church in Corinth to address some big problems: division, sexual misconduct, confusion about food and worship practices, and controversy surrounding Jesus’ resurrection. His main theme us that all these issues can be resolved because Jesus is alive. 

All too often the church squeezes the life out of itself by it’s internal squabbling and division and through such disconnect, forgets that the church the place that God in Christ wills life in all its fullness.

It is said that when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was given orders to wait for the British land forces to arrive, then support them when they attacked the city. Phipps’ navy arrived early. As the admiral waited, he became annoyed by the statues of the saints that adorned the towers of a nearby cathedral, so he commanded his men to shoot at them with the ships’ cannons. No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints.”

From Paul’s writings the question arises how does Jesus’ resurrection relate to people’s daily life choices? Paul’s main thesis is that Jesus teaches non-violence, unity, and self-giving love, but if his life ended with a brutal execution, who is to say he’s right and worth following? 

The fact that Jesus is alive proves that his selfless way is better—where not even death can shut it down. Self-centred practices damage the community, but Jesus’ life gives people real reasons for unity and sexual integrity and the power to love others. 

His resurrection tells his followers that they too have an abundant future beyond death. This is just the beginning—his life opens a view to a whole new reality. The promise of new life, new bodies, a new Heaven, and a new Earth gives us a new way of seeing every aspect of daily life with hope and purpose.

So Paul issues a challenge to Jesus followers in Corinth — followers of Jesus are held to a standard of integrity and morality as we seek to represent his new way of life to our communities. Paul addresses a variety of experiences and seeks to help the church see them through the lens of the Gospel message. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are what unifies a diverse body of believers and allows us to live in a completely new way fused with the hope of God’s Kingdom.

In Short, the Gospel Changes Everything.

Loving God,

we come to you in worship and thanksgiving.

You are greater than we can understand;

open our eyes that we may see the wonderful truths

you have shown to us in Jesus.

You are more loving than our hearts can respond to;

help us to give ourselves to you in worship

so that we learn what you want us to be.

You are wiser than we can know;

still our minds as we worship you

so that we can understand the things you are saying to us.

Loving God, in Jesus

you chose to come to the world in humility.

You chose the path the world saw as foolish.

You used what the world considered weak.

We worship and adore you. Amen. 

Bible Snapshots

One scholar summarised Paul’s letter to the Romans as, “The gospel reveals how God is righteously ‘righteousing’ unrighteous individuals”

In other words how sinners can be justified by faith. Luther emphasised justification by faith alone. However, he did not mean that our justification is created by our faith. It is not our faith that causes God to love us. Rather our justification is because of the Cross.

Michelangelo, the great Renaissance artist, is known for his statue of David and the incredible Sistine Chapel. But what many don’t know is that Michelangelo lived as the Reformation was sweeping through Europe and was influenced by Reformation ideas about justification by grace through faith.

Michelangelo was plagued throughout his life to live up to his own and others’ high demands for his artwork. But as he approached his death, a spiritual rebirth began to occur. One of his final works, intended to be his gravestone, was a statue of himself, in the guise of Nicodemus—the one who was “born again” (John 4)—holding the dead body of Jesus. You can see the statue at the Duomo Museum in Florence, Italy, where a poem by Michelangelo is printed on the opposite wall. In the poem, Michelangelo describes coming to the end of his life and seeing that his artwork was actually harmful to his soul because it became “my idol and my King.”

At the end of the day, his only hope was not in being a great artist or receiving acclaim from others, but rather, the “divine Love, who to embrace us, opened his arms upon the cross.”

Essentially the message of Romans is found 5:1-2 “Since then it is by faith that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things he has for us in the future.”

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come before you today with a heart full of gratitude and thanksgiving. I claim the promise that I am justified by faith and have peace with God through you. I pray that you will continue to strengthen my faith and help me to live a life that is pleasing to you. May your peace that surpasses all understanding fill my heart and mind, and may I always trust in your unfailing love. Thank you for being my Lord and Saviour. In your precious name, I pray. Amen.

Bible Snapshots

We move to Luke’s second book the Acts of the Apostles. Some have considered the essential theme of this book as - “He is at God's right hand for us!” . The title, Acts of the Apostles is now given to the fifth and last of the historical books of the New Testament. The author styles it a "treatise. 

It was early called "The Acts," "The Gospel of the Holy Ghost," and "The Gospel of the Resurrection." It contains properly no account of any of the apostles except Peter and Paul. John is noticed only three times; and all that is recorded of James, the son of Zebedee, is his execution by Herod. It is properly therefore not the history of the "Acts of the Apostles," a title which was given to the book at a later date, but of "Acts of Apostles,”

Perhaps the essential summary of Luke’s treatise is found in Acts 1:8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Pope Francis Pope writing of such a mission “you will receive power from the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 1:8) Just like the Spirit broke the bonds of the Apostles’ fears in the days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are encouraged as Christian disciples to pray since it “allows us to be refreshed and strengthened by the Spirit as the inexhaustible divine source of renewed energy and joy in sharing Christ’s life with others.”

However, Rev’d John Stott of All Souls Langham Place fame points out. “God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: Where is the salt?”

It is interesting that the word "martyr" comes originally from the ancient Greek legal term for “witness" and the book of Acts is full of witness statements. Another name used for the Acts of the Apostles is the Acts of the Holy Spirit who enables disciples of Jesus to witness who leave everything to follow Christ. Martin Luther once said, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
(Martin Luther)

Risen and ascended Lord Jesus,

When we are numbed by the suffering of the world,

Take us back to the deep truth

Of your power and glory,

Of your invincible Kingdom,

Of your promise of reconciliation.

In the knowledge of this truth,

Help us to bring our gaze to earth

And find the strength to go into the world,

to do your will on earth as in heaven.

To build the kingdom of God

On earth as it is in heaven.