Ephesians 2

I will be the first to admit that I struggle to let go of hurt. I don’t like to hold grudges. Having bad feelings towards others eats away at me. It gives me an upset stomach. And yet, I still fixate on those feelings and my relationships with those that hurt me never seem to be the same. I cling to that hurt, and that hurt divides us.

Hurt and grudges don’t seem to have much to do with our passages today, I know. But it’s where my heart went. What stood out to me the most in these scriptures was the idea of division. I don’t know many Jewish people and so I don’t think I can fully appreciate what it meant to be united in grace and salvation with a group of people who were so radically separate from me. But there are others who ARE radically separate from me. We are separated by pain and broken relationships.

Read Chapter 2:14-18:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Have you ever felt yourself so divided from another person or another group of people that you felt there was no fixing that gap? I have. But the divide wasn’t a matter of nationality or to what group of people I belong. The divide was pain, hurt, betrayal, pride, and heartache.

I don’t know what your divide is, but I’m willing to bet that most of you have felt separated from others like I have. It’s painful, and it doesn’t feel like it could ever be mended.

And yet, Jesus Christ destroyed the division. You are a sinner and you have done wrong and yet he died for you. The ones who hurt you? They are sinners and they have done wrong. And he died for them too.

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.” We all got the same message. We all got the same forgiveness. We all got the same grace. Yes, they hurt you. And you’ve probably hurt someone else.

Verses 21-22 continue:

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

In Jesus Christ, we are joined together with those on the other side of that wide divide of hurt. We are to rise as his holy temple. We are to be united as his church. The divide that was too wide for us to cross on our own has been made small by the grace freely offered to all of us sinners. The divide may be hurt or betrayal or a sin done against one side or another. But the people on each side of that divide are equally guilty of sin. And they are equally forgiven.

Reflection Questions:

From whom are you divided? Really examine your heart. Do you want to be a united family of God? Do you want to be the temple God wants you to be, or would you rather hang on to your hurt?

What sins of yours did Christ die for? What sins against you did Christ die for? If Christ died for those sins, and they have been paid for and are no longer yours or theirs, why are you still holding on to them?

Prayer:

My prayer for you today is that you find healing. Pray that God softens your heart and fills it with love for him that is so great, there is no room for hurt and division. Pray that you recognize God’s children as your own family, and that you be united in Christ. Pray for peace to settle on you all.

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Unwavering Integrity

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 16 & 17

Poetry: Proverbs 4

New Testament: Ephesians 2

As someone who recently dipped my toe in the job pool for the first time in roughly a decade, my curiosity led me to search for job traits of the highly-sought after employees. I wanted to know what to stress in order to make me the most marketable candidate to separate myself from the pack. I have a number of traits which I feel are valued in the workplace. I am creative, a troubleshooter, I work well with others, I am honest, a great listener, a quick learner, have pretty good credentials, and can feign intelligence. While many of the attributes showed up on the Family Feud board, they were not the number one answer. So what is the most highly sought after trait? Dependability. A CEO, an administrator, a middle-manager are all looking for predictable actions from their employees in order to make schedules, projections, or take calculated risk. I really had to reflect on my dependability. What would be my Vegas odds? For showing up on time? Seeing things through? Using my work time ethically? Giving my best effort on all aspects of my job? Are stress, weather, or home field advantage influential factors?

It is not just employers looking for our dependability, or more accurately, unwavering integrity. Proverbs 4 insists that seeking wisdom and counsel in the word of God is a critical aspect. When we are guided by God’s wisdom, no matter the circumstance, we are found along a straight path and we do not stumble. (4:11,12) On any other path we find ourselves arriving late, giving up when the situation becomes pressed or less advantageous, we may steal time for ourselves, or phoning in the work of God.

In a continuation of the challenge to the throne of the king that occurs in 2 Samuel, David is cursed by Shimei, who is ready to watch David receive his just desserts for the damage done to the house of Saul. David doesn’t defend himself and halts a rushed retribution ready to be delivered by Abashai. A quick note about the irony here, Saul impulsively chucked literal spears at David, a far less-measured approach. David. however, acts in faith, knowing that the words may be from God, and he might need to heed them, and if not, God will deliver justice and redemption in His time. David proves again to be a level-headed leader, but furthermore, a dependable agent of God.

Likewise, in the moments we are called out or we are tossed by a rough crosswind, (Mark 4) our true measure of our dependability is on display. Do we really continue walking on a straight path when it seems like each step becomes more rocky, the ground shifts, or we hear the thunder clapping above? It is easy to become reactive, volatile, and abandon our posts. Ephesians 2 speaks of the origin of grace, but far too often we forget to continue to read on to understand why the grace of God is extended: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” We should continue to take faithful steps because our works, our way, and our walk have been prepared beforehand by our God. This is the only integrous act if we have accepted the grace of God and the anointing (chosen by God) knowledge of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:20).

When your name makes a run through the mud, be dependable. When someone uses their power to persecute you, be dependable. When it seems you are deserving of fairer weather, be dependable. When you are called to move on faith alone, be dependable. Ultimately, God will have an answer waiting in the wisdom’s walk. Better yet, God has promised to reward those who live with this integrity to the good work they are called to, giving eternity to those who depend on the Lord for their steps today.

-Aaron Winner

Reflection Questions

If you were applying for a job doing the good works God has prepared for you to do, could you truthfully list “dependable” on your resume? In what instances have you been less than dependable? Have there been times when your integrity wavered? What got in the way?
How can you work towards boosting your unwavering integrity score? What could/should you add in to your life? What could/should you take away? What do you think helped build David’s integrity at this point in his life? Are there any attitude shifts you might want to work on?
What good works do you think God has prepared for you to do? Are you doing them – dependably?

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The Faith/Works Dilemma

James 2

Monday, October 3, 2022

In the second chapter of his letter, James continues with his onslaught of practical but difficult advice.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.” (James 2:14-19 NRSV)

It would seem from this section that just believing things is no good. If my interpretation of James is correct, that means it’s not enough to go around quoting John 3:16 and telling people they only need to believe in Jesus and they will be saved. There is no checklist of beliefs where you can just tick all the boxes and receive salvation. No single belief will save you, and neither will any magical combination of beliefs.

James is asserting that action must accompany faith in order for it to be the real thing. Doing good works is the evidence of your faith. Faith and good works don’t live isolated lives, but are coupled together. To decouple faith and works is to reveal an inconsistency.

Imagine that someone claims to believe in the value of human life as the image of God, yet they go around hurting or killing people. Or maybe they just neglect to help someone else they know is in need. You would notice the inconsistency in that. They must not truly believe in the value of human life since their actions show they don’t value it. James is telling us that actions are louder than words. He cuts right through the nonsense and says, “Hey, don’t just tell me what you believe. Show me.”

When we talk about this passage, it’s likely that we’ll also think of a passage from Ephesians that seems to be in tension with it.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NRSV)

Paul here is saying that works can’t save you; it’s a gift you accept through faith. James is saying faith alone doesn’t save or justify you; you need works too. Is there a conflict between what James and Paul are saying?

Part of the beauty of this collection of writings we call the Bible is that different authors often have different perspectives on things. We have four different gospel accounts, each with their own angle and emphasis. The general story and message are the same, but some of the finer details differ. This is exactly what you would expect if you asked four different people to describe something they witnessed years ago. This is not a problem at all for the gospels, and in actuality, bolsters the case for their authenticity. It shows that four people didn’t get together in a room for a weekend and collude to produce the exact same fairy tale. Four real people wanted to pass on what they witnessed, and they did so under the inspiration of God.

We see the world with two eyes, each from a slightly different angle. This allows us to perceive depth, in other words, to see things in 3-D. Your brain does some kind of trigonometry with the signals from your eyes to give you an idea of how far away something is. If you had only one eye, it would be much harder to judge depth.

We can regard James and Paul as two eyes looking at the topic of salvation from two different angles, and the result is seeing it in 3-D. It’s the same core truth with different emphases. James sees something Paul doesn’t see, and Paul sees something James doesn’t see. At great risk of oversimplification, I’ll try to bring their viewpoints together. They would agree that faith and works go hand-in-hand. James is saying faith alone is not enough, and Paul is saying works alone are not enough. Neither would say that you can earn salvation by works, but would agree that the works are evidence of a saving faith. Well, I took a stab at it. My only hope is that they can get together sometime to discuss this topic and release it as a long-form podcast.

-Jay Laurent

Question Time

1. Why do you think it is so hard to really live out what you believe?

2. What small steps could you take this week to put your faith in action?

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A Gift We Don’t Deserve

Monday, August 15, 2022

Every time I study the word “grace”, I am led to two other words that are not used in everyday language: unmerited favor. My brain is naggled when I look up the definition of one word, only to be more confused by ‘fancier’ vocabulary. I want it simple.

Another reason, I believe, that the concepts of grace and unmerited favor is sometimes a challenge to wrap my mind around is that it’s not frequently extended in practice – from others to us or even from us to others. There is so often a string attached, an expectation to meet or a limit set. But that’s not how the grace of God works.

God knows every bit of our lives: our thoughts, words, actions; the good, the bad, and the ugly – and decides to freely offer His grace – a gift that we really don’t deserve – to us so that we can be in right standing with Him.

Teachers often have “back to school” dreams where something inevitably goes very wrong. Last night I had a dream that my supervising principal kept finding mistakes in my work. And in my dream, she was getting frustrated and I developed a growing concern for my job. Thankfully, that’s not my reality. My principal is great and trusts me to do my job well.

God isn’t a supervisor who is tracking all of your mistakes and missteps, evaluating your every move, just waiting to see if you’re good enough to keep, or if He needs to remove you from His team.

Yes, He sees our every move and He rejoices in our successes. He also continues to love us and support us as we stumble, fall, and fail. He’s the one who lifts us up, brushes the dust off our knees, wipes away our tears, and tells us that we can do hard things because we can draw our strength from Him.

This is grace: God’s unmerited favor.

-Bethany Ligon

Application Questions

How would you describe God’s grace to someone who has never heard of it before?
What do you love best about God’s grace? How has He picked you up after you have stumbled.
How well do you give grace to others?

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Enough

Ephesians 2

Every Sunday since before I was born, my family has gathered at my grandma’s house for an after-church lunch. It’s a grandiose affair with a lavish spread of food, a fancy tablecloth, and ALWAYS dessert. My littlest cousin, Greta, prides herself on being Grandma’s helper in the kitchen each Sunday. By no means is she qualified to even step foot in a kitchen—she tries to lick the frosting off the chocolate cake, has a fair share of spills, and screams when not allowed to cut the watermelon. Despite her lack of skills and tact, she is the most willing and enthusiastic helper. While my grandma certainly doesn’t need her help, I think her heart bursts into a million little pieces when little Greta pulls up her stool to the counter with wide eyes and ready hands.

Sometimes I feel a lot like a toddler in the kitchen, like I’m not enough. The truth of the matter is that I wasn’t enough.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

The story doesn’t end there. I am made enough because of who God is and what Jesus did for me.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.(Ephesians 2:4-5)

We can choose to wallow in our inadequacy, or we can embrace grace. I’ve seen the joy that comes when we let go of the burden of not being enough in the beaming smile of a little girl with chocolate frosting on her nose. You are so enough that God wants to use you for His Kingdom.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.(Ephesians 2:10)

No matter the lies the world whispers in your ear, never stop pulling up your stool to the counter. Roll up your sleeves and do all the things God prepared for you. He’s more honored by your attempts than He is concerned about your results. Frankly, He could go infinity gauntlet style and snap His fingers to accomplish anything He wanted to by Himself. That same God is head-over-heels in love with you.

My friend, you measure up. You have what it takes. You’re enough. Now go do something.

-Mackenzie McClain

Tag: Ephesians 2

Destroying the Division