So Will I
“Jesus came as a human being not to teach us how to go to heaven, but to how to be a fully alive human being here on this earth.”
Ephesians 5, Paul doesn’t mess around, he hits hard and at the same time brings full love and is grace filled. It’s probably good context to remember that Paul is writing this very formal and official letter from a prison cell in Rome. Ephesians is less personal, and more direct and bringing clarity of what it means to know, and be transformed by Christ [Identity] and that inner transformation leads to how we live our lives and model Christ to others [Integrity].
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” - Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV
To know God, and follow Him is to love. God is love, so following him and living out our walk is to love others [and love ourselves.] I threw in ourselves because I often think that is overlooked and not talked about enough. If we are fully loved by God, accepted by God, blessed by his full Grace and pure and sanctified by Christ then surely we should accept and love ourselves.
1 Thessalonians 5:23. "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Hebrews 13:12. "So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood."
When we can fully receive God’s grace and love, we can transfer this pure offering into how we see ourselves. How we can accept ourselves and love ourselves, not because we are perfect and without sin, but because God loves us and has washed us in the blood of Christ. Why is this so important? Because if we don’t see ourselves as Christ sees us, we lack integrity...we are not whole and walking out our faith fully. This distorted view of ourselves turns into bitterness and will impact how we see others. We can, and often will, become judgmental simply because we are projecting our own personal struggle onto others, and turning into judge and jury. If we become jealous of someone’s blessing and something that happened to them, is this jealousy the other person’s doing, or is it our inner sin and struggle with contentment? We must learn to fully love ourselves!
Back to Ephesians 5, and walking in love. Paul reminds us (Christians) where the bar is, and what modeling Christ should look like. He does this by bringing contrast of what was.
“Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light! And the supernatural fruits of his light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth.” - Ephesians 5:8-9 TPT
We were once filled with darkness...but now we have the Lord’s light. We should remember this when we look out into the world. Before we cast a judgmental spirit on those who are not Christ followers I think we should remember who we once were. We see here that our mission is to live out Christ light, not beat non-Christians over the head with the Bible. Paul’s words here in Ephesians 5 are to Christians...we should hold other followers to these standards, with truth and grace bringing accountability and sharpen each other in the community we are apart of. But when it comes to our non-Christian friends [and we should have them] we need to be careful to not hold them to the same standard, and how we extend our grace and love. I like to remember that I might be the only “BIble” they ever read, are my actions representing God’s Word, and Jesus love fully?
These final thoughts are pretty fresh, from some really great conversations with my oldest daughter last night. Our mission is to live out Christ’s light - to be a light to those who do no know Jesus. When those Christ followers around us are not being a light, and find themselves being judgmental and pretty nasty - how we react is important. To take up for, and become righteously angry on the behalf of the non-believer is fine, but how we express this is very important. Remember, we are the light of Christ, we are called to Love God, and Love Others [all]. I like to look at John 8, where the Pharisees bring Jesus the woman caught in adultery. What were Jesus actions? How did he respond to the woman, and how did he respond to the religious? Jesus modeled love to all, reminding the religious they were not perfect, they had sin and he showed love to the woman by not casting judgement or condemnation on her - but asking her to walk in the light and sin no more.
John 8:10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Jesus didn’t change his stance on the sin, nor should we. Recognize however, Jesus didn’t start or lead the discussion with the sin, He lead with love, and expressing no condemnation to the woman. Jesus also made it clear that condemnation was not acceptable from the religious.
Our posture, fueled by grace and love is one that reflects the lyrics of So Will I by HIllsong United “If You gave Your life to love them so will I”
I love how pastor Kris Langham put it in his devotional today, “Your walk reveals your king.”