Ephesians 1:15-23

15-19That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you-every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask-ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory-to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him-endless energy, boundless strength!

20-23All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the centre of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Matthew 25:31-46

31-33″When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

34-36″Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.’

37-40″Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me-you did it to me.’

41-43″Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because-

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was homeless and you gave me no bed,

I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,

Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

44″Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

45″He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me-you failed to do it to me.’

46″Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”

The passage in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has enormous relevance for us in 21st century western culture. This letter was written to a church which was in a very religious culture, pretty much like what we have today in a lot of ways. It’s just that we generally worship different things these days. We worship money, we worship ourselves and we worship material goods. It has been said that you become what you worship. If you worship God you will become more Godly and more Christlike, and if you worship money you will inevitably become more greedy. Ephesus was one of the major cities of the Roman Empire in Paul’s day and what he says in his letter is very encouraging to them in helping them deal with the troubles they are going through.

Consider what Tom Wright says about Ephesus as a place and how Paul’s letter to the Ephesians would have impacted them:

“Ephesus itself, and the surrounding area, was seen as a place of power. Certainly in social and civic terms the city was powerful, and was set to become more so. It was a major centre of imperial influence in Paul’s day. The Roman emperors were keen to establish and maintain places where their rule could be celebrated and enhanced.

But it was also a centre of religious power. All sorts of cults and beliefs flourished, and frequently they focused on power, the power of what we might call magic, power to make things happen in the world, to influence people and events, to gain wealth or health or influence for yourself and to bring about the downfall of your enemies. Their world, in other words, was dominated by the ‘principalities and powers’, the various levels of rulers and authorities from local magistrates up to internationally recognised gods and goddesses, and all stages in between.”

It’s into this setting that Paul is writing to the Ephesians, and he says some very subversive stuff, as Paul always does. Within this place of power, Paul dares to state that Jesus has power over all of these authorities that Rome has set up. Jesus is in fact the ruler of the whole cosmos and the believers are to have confidence in that and live accordingly. The church is always to be counter-cultural. We are to be an alternative community, showing that a better world is coming, and a better world is already here. Jesus said the kingdom of God is among you, or within you. That is one of the main points that comes out of this passage.

Another major theme that comes out of this passage is Paul’s praise to God, his thankfulness for them. Paul was a big one for being thankful. He says it a few times in his letters – give thanks in all things.

Paul knew that an attitude of thankfulness in all things was one of the best ways to deal with life. Smithy has been saying a few times recently that we have nothing which we have not been given. If we can have an attitude like that we will be thankful for what we do have in life. Paul was genuinely excited by their trust in Christ and the love they were showing.

We sing a song, which I think is taken from Isaiah, which says to put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That doesn’t mean that we are to be in denial and say that everything’s wonderful when we are really dying inside. Throughout the New Testament, suffering is seen to have a purpose. It is what is called ‘redemptive suffering’.

The writers of the New Testament letters constantly urged their readers to see beyond their present circumstances to what lay ahead – the new heavens and the new earth, a time when all things would be put to rights. Paul says in one of his letters that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will come our way one day. Our hope is that a better world is coming, and that we can play a part in making a better world already come now. Our mission as Christ’s followers is to work to bring in the kingdom as Jesus did.

Philip Yancey, in his book Where is God When it Hurts? says the following:

“The Christian believes that, no matter how bleak things look at the present, something good really does lie ahead. Bruno Bettelheim, survivor of Hitler’s camps, acknowledges that such belief translates into actual help: “It is a well-known fact of the concentration camps that those who had strong religious and moral convictions managed life there much better than the rest. Their beliefs, including belief in an afterlife, gave them a strength to endure which was far above that of most others.”

This is the hope that we, despite what our circumstances may be.

Now let’s look at the rest of this passage in Ephesians:

15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you-every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask-ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory-to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear.

Imagine Paul’s enthusiasm and passion when he is communicating these truths to the Ephesian believers. And then when think about all that he has gone through, we can marvel at the fact that he can still talk about this glorious way of life and how great it is that God is working in him. Endless energy, boundless strength! Energy for living comes from living for others. Throughout his letters Paul constantly talks about living for others, putting others first. And it is this that he wants to pass onto the Ephesian church. Be encouraged because this Jesus is infinitely more powerful than any of the powers you have to deal with.

So Paul tells his readers to be intelligent in seeing exactly what God is calling them to do. Then he says that Jesus rules over all – “no name and no power exempt from his rule. He has the final word on everything. And at the centre of all this, Christ rules the church.The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”

The means that God uses to bring about this change in us is his church. That’s us. That’s also an awesome responsibility. We as a community are to be a counter-culture to the world around us.

Despite all its problems, all its hypocrisies, all its conflicts over 2,000 years, the fact is that Jesus loves the church. We are his body after all. We are his eyes, his hands and his feet in the world. The mission of the church is to model the kingdom of God in the world, to show that another world is possible and that another world is already here. That’s why it is such a tragedy and such a waste that the church has done appallingly in so many ways for so many years. Why is it that the church is known for being more like the Pharisees than Jesus himself?

In a study done in the United States it was shown that the more religious people are, the more prejudiced they are. And yet with Jesus it is the very opposite. For him, the further away people were from his circle of influence, the less judging he was. Jesus’ sternest words of judgment were for the equivalent of the church of his day. For the so-called heathen out there he showed the most sensitivity and love. We are to be the fragrance of Christ in the world.

And that’s where the story of the sheep and the goats comes in. It is those who show the fragrance of Christ in the world that are most impressive to God. Those who do what they don’t necessarily want to do, but do it anyway because it’s right, no matter what the outcome.

If you look through history, the sheep are people like William Wilberforce. Where would the world be today if it weren’t for people like him, who pressed on for 50 years to end the injustice of slavery 200 years ago? It was the very backbone of the British Empire and to get rid of it was the equivalent of banning the charging of interest on any loan in our society today. It was seen as hopelessly utopian and would destroy the economy and our very way of life.

Where would African Americans be today if it wasn’t for people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King who stood up tirelessly for the rights of their people – the very rights that white people took for granted. I wonder if the United States would have had the courage to elect a black president if it wasn’t for the groundwork of people like them 40 and 50 years ago.

Where would South Africa be today – despite it still having enormous problems – if it wasn’t for the courage of people like Nelson Mandela and that smiling lovely man, Desmond Tutu, people who have risked their lives for their country and who for the last 14 years have seen apartheid be a thing of the past.

Where would eastern Europe be now if it wasn’t for the almost completely non-violent revolutions that took place in 1989 which brought the Berlin Wall crumbling down and a people reunited with loved ones after being segregated from them for 30 years. I remember being with my mum in the kitchen at home and watching on TV when the Wall came down. She was bawling here eyes out as long separated family members hugged each other for the first time in years. My Dad said he thought it would never happen in his lifetime.

People who did this were the sheep of this story. And they’re just the well known ones. There are millions more who wont be known in the history books but who are just as heroic.

And by saying that when the ‘sheep’ did these things for the ‘least of these’ they were doing it to him, Jesus was identifying himself with the poor and outcast. Remember that in this story Jesus is talking to his disciples. It’s actually the disciples who are ‘the least of these’. So if you are one of the poor and outcast, Jesus stands with you and he assures you that there will come a day when justice will prosper and the world will be put to rights.

Just like Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, Matthew, from whom we get this gospel passage, was writing to a group of people who were also struggling. This passage about Jesus identifying with them as the poor and outcast was a great encouragement to his readers.

But to many of us who are comfortable in the west here, this passage is also the sternest of warnings. When we meet him on that day he will not ask how sound our doctrine was, important though that is; he will not even ask how much money we gave to the poor, important though that is. After all he was much more impressed by the poor widow who put in her only coin than by the rich who put in out of their wealth. Paul said that nothing is more important than faith expressing itself through love, and that if we have not love we are nothing. There is nothing more important than love and living it out. No, the question he will ask us on that day is ‘how well did you love?’ Did you show love to those who everyone else considers unlovable?

And it’s also not about putting on a show, but the ones who are commended by Jesus are those who do it without thought of reward, but who do it simply because they care. Robert McAfee Brown, author of Unexpected News – Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes, says the following about the attitude of the sheep:

“Here is where grace comes into play. Salvation is not for those who have toted up their good works (“We did this for God today, and that for God yesterday, and we can really rack up some points over the weekend”). It is a gift given for things done without thought of reward, expressing concern for the neighbour quite apart from knowing that concern for the neighbour is simultaneously concern for God. No wonder the righteous are surprised. Those who claim to be righteous are precisely those to whom the designation will be denied.”

The sheep didn’t give a second thought about what they might get out of it. They just went ahead and loved the suffering and downtrodden simply because they cared.

That’s why Paul was so thankful for their outpouring of love. What he was saying was like the words of a song by Ross Langmead called ‘Love One Another’.

The believers who Paul and Matthew were writing to would have been able to relate deeply with the words of this song:

The kingdom is coming, a kingdom of peace.

Beat swords into ploughs, for fighting will cease.

Justice will prosper, love will be king

Then peacemakers will be able to sing, that this is God’s earth, and it has been worth all the pain.

And all will agree. Love one another.

That is the hope that we have. There will be an end to suffering one day. Jesus is in charge, despite what we see around us.

Finally, listen to the words of Mother Teresa:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centred. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

By doing these things you are bringing in the kingdom. Let’s be thankful in all things and spur each other on to love and good deeds, because that is our mission, that is what having the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven is all about.

by Nils von Kalm

http://www.soulthoughts.com Blog: http://soulthoughts.wordpress.com

23 November 2008