A Church to believe in....
Ephes. 1:15-23 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, [16] I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. [17] I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. [18] I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, [19] and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, [20] which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, [21] far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. [22] And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, [23] which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way.
I want to be part of a church like that….
Imagine if wherever you went and other Christians that you met asked you what church you came from, and you told them, and then they said “Wow, we’ve heard how much you guys love each other. It is such a blessing and encouragement to us all to hear about a community of believers who have such an intimate relationship with Jesus that it overspills into the way they treat and care for each other!” Jesus told us that a mark of his presence within any community is that individual believers would show their love of him by the way they treated other people. Love like this would be contagious. It would also be attractive to people looking from the outside.
I want to be part of a church like that….
And imagine that you were part of a group of people who believed in Jesus, really believed in him. Paul talks here about faith in Jesus, a faith which believes in his power, expressed through love, which as Christians we can share in. Paul wants to remind the Church in Ephesus of just how powerful that love is. It raised Jesus from the dead and seated him next to God in heaven, in the place of honour. Being there means that through Jesus, we now can share in the power of heaven, in the kingdom of God. There is nothing on Earth that should dismay us, knowing that we have such a supporter, a champion in heaven. This should give us faith to act. To bring love to the world. To stand up for those who are downtrodden, to make Jesus’ name known in all the world. To live as revolutionaries for the kingdom of God.
I want to be part of a church like that….
I want to be part of a church like that….
Imagine if wherever you went and other Christians that you met asked you what church you came from, and you told them, and then they said “Wow, we’ve heard how much you guys love each other. It is such a blessing and encouragement to us all to hear about a community of believers who have such an intimate relationship with Jesus that it overspills into the way they treat and care for each other!” Jesus told us that a mark of his presence within any community is that individual believers would show their love of him by the way they treated other people. Love like this would be contagious. It would also be attractive to people looking from the outside.
I want to be part of a church like that….
And imagine that you were part of a group of people who believed in Jesus, really believed in him. Paul talks here about faith in Jesus, a faith which believes in his power, expressed through love, which as Christians we can share in. Paul wants to remind the Church in Ephesus of just how powerful that love is. It raised Jesus from the dead and seated him next to God in heaven, in the place of honour. Being there means that through Jesus, we now can share in the power of heaven, in the kingdom of God. There is nothing on Earth that should dismay us, knowing that we have such a supporter, a champion in heaven. This should give us faith to act. To bring love to the world. To stand up for those who are downtrodden, to make Jesus’ name known in all the world. To live as revolutionaries for the kingdom of God.
I want to be part of a church like that….
posted by Gordon at
8:02 am
1 Comments:
I long to be part of a church like that too. This seems to keep coming up at the moment too: That we should be a church that is known for how we love each other. I guess as Paul writes in this passage, this will only happen more as we know God better and His power works through us.
I guess it could sound like a depressing chicken and egg thing, we need more love to get more power, more power to get more love but I think it's actually as amazing as the cycle of life chickens and eggs go through. The more we know God (and consequently His love for us), the more we love Him and others, the more we love, the more His power works through us, the more His power works through us, the more we love etc...
Obviously like anything else we can mess up any of the stages by only going after one thing or wanting it for the wrong reasons or pretending etc, but on the whole that is the journey God is taking us along.
At least that's what I think. What do you guys think? Does this make sense or have I confused things? Is this how it is?
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Louise, at 10:44 am
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