Readings for May 29

This Sunday I'm preaching on Ephesians 2:19-22 in which Paul uses no fewer than three metaphors in a few sentences to describe the relationship of believers to God and other believers.

We have gone from being aliens to being citizens.  What's more, we're now members of God's own household (we get to go in God's fridge and have our mail delivered to his address).  And we are also 2X4s being used in the construction of God's temple in which He's pleased to reside.

Each of these metaphors has significance for how we are to live our Christian lives and how we are to operate as a church.  

For instance, the divide that Paul makes so much of, the divide between Gentiles and Jews, seems much less significant to us than it did to him: we were never so keenly aware of our disadvantage in being Gentiles, nor so keenly aware of the blessings peculiar to the Jewish people.  But the emphasis on mutual citizenship and equal standing before God in Christ is something we need to hear and apply.  If, as Paul says, we are all citizens whether we were born here or lately arrived from a great distance, our citizenship should eclipse all the other distinctions.  It can be very subtle but we make distinctions in the body of Christ that we have no business making, distinctions based on how long we've been believers, whether or not we have a believing heritage, how exciting or pedestrian our testimonies are, etc.  That would be like classing the people in a pool based on the order in which they jumped in, or how deep their part of the pool is, when all God wants to know is if you're wet or not.

Call to Repentance

Romans 13:8  (page 1765)

Call to Worship

Psalm 10  (page 850)

OT Reading

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7  (page 1039)

NT Reading

1 Peter 2:4-10  (page 1888)

Message

The Drastic People of a Drastic God

Ephesians 2:19-22  (page 1819)

Readings for May 15, 2011

This week I'm going to be preaching on Ephesians 1:22-23 in which Paul explains that Christ is the head of the church which is, in turn, the fullness of him who fills all in all.  It is one of those breathtakingly grandiose claims that only an Apostle could get away with.  It's a hard claim to take seriously on the face of it.  We have a hard enough time filling a small church building for two hours one day a week.  And when we're spread apart we're spread so thin.  At least that's how it feels.

And if this claim that the church is the fullness of a Christ who mysteriously fills all things gets a skeptical response from us, how must the world hear it?

But what if it's true?  What if the Christ who holds the molecules together and gives all words their meaning is pleased to be full not of angelic hosts or the power of a million blazing suns, but full of the likes of you and me?  But it's true.  It boggles my mind that the fullness of Christ would be composed of the sort of people whose minds would be boggled by the fact that they compose the fullness of Christ.

But He knows what He's doing.  And if He knows what He's doing, we know what we need to do.

Call to Repentance

Acts 17:30-31  (page 1703)

Call to Worship

Psalm 16  (page 853)

OT Reading

Psalm 79  (page 918)

NT Reading

Colossians 1:15-23  (page 1832)

Message

Fullness or Full of It

Ephesians 1:22-23  (page 1818)

Readings for May 8, 2011

Amazingly, Paul, who had an academic's mind and was personally familiar with the great schools of the ancient world, did not establish anything like a seminary or a training school.  His hope for the discipleship of new believers and the equipping of the called hinged not on a program, not on a curriculum, not on a faculty made up of great teachers.  The whole endeavor hinged on the activity of God's Holy Spirit.  

In this passage Paul makes clear to the Ephesians that what he wanted most for them was that they would have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.  Wisdom is what we do with the information we have, how we make sense of it and what values we assign to it.  And revelation is the way in which that information is disclosed to us in the first place.  Paul wants us to have better vision and a better view.  

And it's kind of alarming and unsettling to think that it could really be that simple.  But it should come as no surprise that God should be alarming and unsettling.

Call to Repentance

Revelation 3:17-18  (page 1917)

Call to Worship

Psalm 111  (page 952)

OT Reading

Proverbs 2:1-10  (page 986)

NT Reading

James 1:2-8 (page 1880)

Message

Better Vision and a Better View

Ephesians 1:15-17  (page 1818)