God
Our Life of Fellowship
by Linda Rex
September 29, 2024, Proper 21 | After Pentecost—Back in 2013, I accomplished a huge goal in my life by completing my Master of Pastoral Studies degree at Grace Communion Seminary. As part of this project, I wrote a thesis on the New Testament passage which happens to be one of the RCL passages for this Sunday, James 5:13–20.
I had to do an extensive exegesis on the passage, and also examine it in the light of historic orthodox Christian teaching, as well as within the context of our theological journey within Grace Communion International. As I began to study this passage, I examined it in the light of Christ-centered Trinitarian theology, since Jesus needs to be the lens through which I look. Even though my thesis had to do with the importance role relationships play in experiencing health and wholeness, it brought forth some important nuances about our life of faith within the Body of Christ, and what our life of fellowship with one another should look like.
Here is a summary passage from that thesis:
God has called us all into relationship with himself in Christ by the Spirit. As believers we live in relationship with one another in Christ, as well as in union with the Father, Son and Spirit. Throughout all of life, we are to live in relationship with God, responding to him in prayer and in songs of praise in the good times and bad. As believers, we live as members of the Body of Christ in the Spirit, and as such we have a responsibility to one another. When a brother or sister is ill, they are encouraged to call for the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them so they may experience the care and concern of both God and their brothers and sisters. When a brother or sister is struggling with weaknesses, we minister God’s grace to them in prayer and/or in other ways. We are encouraged to confess our faults to one another and to pray for one another so we may be free. And we call erring brothers and sisters back to their center in Christ when they wander away. As we participate with Christ in his ministry of care for others, we share in the spiritual blessings that come from the harvest he seeks in the lives of his people as he conforms them to Christ.
As you can see, life in fellowship with others is vibrant, alive, and active. It is a life of sharing, caring, and serving one another. There is a responsibility to one another, and a deep sense of humility, joy, obedience, and reverence before God, as we walk in intimate relationship with him.
When we look at our Christian fellowships today, how many of them look like this? I don’t say that to be critical, but to show that the Holy Spirit does not change. When the Holy Spirit draws us together into spiritual fellowships—this is what it looks like. This is where Jesus Christ shows up—living in us, with us, and through us by his Spirit. This is where the Father’s presence rests, and we live in the joy of mutual indwelling through Jesus in the Spirit. In my mind, this looks a lot like what GCI calls healthy church.
The question is not whether our church is or is not following some guideline to be healthy church. The question is, are we in union and communion with our Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit? Are we united with Christ? If so, then, how are we living that out in our relationships with one another? Living it out relationship with one another looks like getting into face-to-face relationships with people who may be like us or different than us. And relationships can be very messy, and difficult. In fact, some relationships may be even painful or distressing. And that may make us very uncomfortable.
But the point is—we never do any of this alone. There is one human being who has dealt with just about any kind of person that has ever existed—and he still lives as God in human flesh—the resurrected Jesus Christ. Our ability to live with others in warm fellowship is made possible by Jesus Christ living in and through us by the Holy Spirit. It is the life of Christ actively flowing in and through us which brings about this warm fellowship which characterizes the Body of Christ. Are we opening ourselves up to the Holy Spirit? Do we draw close to God through listening to his Word, praying, and practicing the many other spiritual disciplines such as silence, solitude, generosity, and service? These are things we do to open ourselves up to allow God to live his life of warm fellowship in and through us. And this is our life of fellowship as the Body of Christ.
Heavenly Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for including us in your life and love. Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done and are doing to make this possible. And thank you, heavenly Spirit, for always and forever working in and through us to enable us to live in fellowship with you, God, and one another, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was aa man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:13–20 NASB
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Faith in Action
By Linda Rex
September 8, 2024, Proper 18 | After Pentecost—In my personal faith tradition years ago, having the right theology or correct belief system was essential. In the extreme form of this belief and practice, exclusion of any group or person that did not agree with our faith tradition was the norm. Sadly, this meant that we were blind to how God was working with every person in this world and within other faith traditions.
Over the years, I began to see that there were huge flaws in what I believed and practiced in the name of obeying God and following what the Bible taught. Much of this was due to a desperate need for the Spirit to give me a new framework through which to view God and the Bible, a framework given to us by God himself. He gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, as the sole true interpreter and revealer of God and his will and his ways. When I began to see through the lens of Jesus Christ, everything changed, thanks to the Spirit’s gracious work.
When James addresses the issue of Christian faith and practice, he does so through the lens of Jesus Christ and all that Jesus is for us in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the gift of the Spirit. In order to read the book of James properly, we need to find the indicatives which undergird each of the imperatives or commands which the apostle gives us to follow. For example, in our New Testament reading for this Sunday, James 2:1–10, 14–17, the apostle James tells us that we are not to treat some people better than others when they join us in Christian fellowship. And he says that we need to be aware that our faith is empty or dead if it is not accompanied by actions which affirm its reality. These are the imperatives or commands James is encouraging us to put into practice.
But notice the indicatives or underlying spiritual realities behind these imperatives. He asks, “did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” The royal law expressed in Jesus Christ—the lens through which we view all things—is that God in Christ was willing to lay down his life for us so that we could be with him forever. This is the God, the Lord Jesus, who while on this earth spent much of his time with the everyday people of his land, ministering to the poor, needy, and afflicted, both Jew and non-Jew. James tells us that, because of Jesus Christ and because of his own law of love written on our hearts by the Spirit, we treat every human being with dignity, respect, and kindness. The person may be different than us, they may be struggling, but they are our equals—as the apostle Paul says, we are all one in Christ Jesus.
In the Gospel passage, Mark 7:24–37, Mark tells two stories within the context of Jesus’ harassment by the leaders of his people. One is about a woman who was “a Gentile [a non-Jew], of the Syrophoenician race”—someone who the Jewish leaders would have avoided having anything to do with, even though she needed their help in freeing her daughter from demon possession. And, even though Jesus reminds her that his immediate focus is currently on his own Jewish people, she counters his initial refusal with a humble, yet bold remark about how even the pet dogs get the crumbs off the table. Touched by her faith, Jesus heals her daughter.
The other story is about a man who is deaf and mute that some people brought to Jesus to heal. Jesus shows the man what he’s going to do and then says, “Be opened.” In that moment, the man’s ears are opened and he is once again able to speak. Jesus tells the people who brought him not to say anything about his healing, since it would complicate Jesus’ ability to continue to do ministry in that area. But they become more and more vocal about it. And Jesus knows that this will only increase his persecution by the leaders of his people. And Jesus knows that the Jewish leaders of that day needed a new lens through which to view the people with whom God had given them the responsibility to lead and care for. They needed to get out of their religious box and begin simply practicing the law they knew by heart, to truly love their neighbor as themselves. Their faith in their loving God needed to be evidenced in the actions they took day by day as they encountered the different people in their lives, no matter their background, history, circumstances, religious affiliation, or race.
So, going back to our passage in James, we see that the people James writes to have the same issues that Jesus was up against during his time here on earth. The human tendency to put some people lower and some people higher is at work in this fellowship, and James calls them back to the spiritual realities of their faith in Christ. In the Triune oneness of Father, Son, and Spirit, there’s unique personhood, yet equality and unity. In the same way, this group of believers needed to start acting like the children of God they were, treating one another as unique equals who were sharing in the oneness which is ours in Christ by the Spirit. And when someone came into their gathering who did not fit any human category of value and worth, they were to still treat them as a beloved child of God, for in Christ, that is what they are. And here we find the impetus to live this out ourselves today, as God’s beloved children, who God, in Christ, stooped down to include in his own life and love, both now and forever. Who might God want us to include who we have previously excluded?
Thank you, Father, for going to such extent to include us in your life and love through your Son Jesus in the Spirit. Thank you for raising us up out of our poverty of evil, sin, and death, and for giving us the dignity and worth of being called your very own adopted children. Grant us the grace to value others with the same grace and worth with which you value us, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. … What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” James 2:1–10, 14–17 NASB
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Pushing Away God’s Love
By Linda Rex
August 11, 2024, Proper 14—Last week I wrote about our role as members of the body of Christ, the Church (meaning the universal, all-encompassing, cross-denominational and cross-distinctives body of Christ). In our current culture, a group of people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and ways of being who live together in unity and other-centered love is in many ways a countercultural entity. People who have lived much of their lives in a very individualistic, self-absorbed manner may find it very challenging to be warmly embraced and invited into close relationship. In fact, it may feel invasive and even frightening to some people.
Over the years, I discovered that one reason we may push away such a welcoming, inclusive experience is because we are afraid that if we let anyone get close, they may discover what we are really like and reject us. What God has called his Church to be is the place where people are fully known, yet fully loved and accepted. The body of Christ, the Church, is meant to be a safe place for all God’s children. Unfortunately, the Church too often has been the place where when someone opens up and begins to get real, they are condemned, criticized, and or rejected. We do this in our families and in our other relationships, but this is not the way God treats us—so we should not treat each other in this way either.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Ephesians 4:25–5:2, the apostle Paul describes what it looks like when people live together in the union and communion of the Triune life and love. As they live in these ways, they imitate the being and inner life of our Father and his Son in the Spirit.
What does this way of living together look like? Paul says that people are honest with one another—they practice truth-telling in love. They do not allow anger or rage to rule, for they do not want the evil one to have a chance to cause harm or division. They work hard, rather than steal, so they can help others out. The words they say build each other up, and they avoid any kind of slander, malice, or bitterness. They are always forgiving and kind to one another, no matter what may be going on in their lives. Living and walking in this way does not grieve the Spirit, for it is a reflection of the very union and communion of the Father with his Son in the Spirit.
When we look at our relationships within the body of Christ, especially when we look cross-denominationally or across lines of distinctions, do they manifest this kind of unity and love? What about in our own marriages and families? And what about our relationships with people outside the Church—how do we relate to people who do not yet believe in Christ? When I am honest with myself, I have to admit that too often I have fallen far short from being a true imitation of the divine Being.
Thankfully, this is where grace through faith comes in. And this is where we are privileged through Jesus to offer grace to one another. The reality is that whatever our life is in Christ by the Spirit, it is grounded in the love of God in Christ and in the grace that is ours through what Jesus did in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We are so grateful that we are held in Christ in his own face-to-face fellowship with his Father in the Spirit, so that even when we miss the mark, our own fellowship with God is unshaken. The Lord ever draws us back into that place of union and communion, while by his Spirit, he works to form Christ in us.
Evil constantly seeks opportunities to separate, divide, disrupt, confuse, and destroy all that is good, holy, and unified. We are constantly pressed upon by people and circumstances whose sole purpose is to steal or ruin or kill anything in our lives that may reflect the divine Being of Father, Jesus, Spirit—Three Persons in One Being. Still, the Spirit ever works to bring unity and oneness, while, like a parasite on all that is good, the evil one ever works to bring division and discord. At times, we participate in either direction, and we reap the consequences of our choices in this regard. But Jesus continues to invite us to follow him wherever he leads, and by his Spirit, he always leads us down the path to unity, oneness, love, and grace. And he holds us, now and forever, in his own face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. This is our comfort and our peace.
Like Jesus, our fellowships of faith are called by God to be places where the Spirit is not grieved, but joyfully shares with us the divine fellowship of union and communion which is ours in Christ. As we gather together to worship God in Spirit and in truth, may we mirror more and more accurately the life and love of our Father, Jesus, and Spirit, and may we welcome warmly, gently, and wisely those who enter in, seeking a safe place to participate in God’s life and love.
Heavenly Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for including us in your life and love. We are ever in need of your forgiveness, for we are so often poor reflections of you. But by your Spirit, you are ever working. We trust you to finish what you have begun, through Jesus in the Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, ‘speak truth each one’ of you ‘with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another. ‘Be angry, and’ yet ‘do not sin’; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Ephesians 4:25–5:2 NASB
“Faking it and lying to one another was part of the old life; now truth remains the constant inspiration in your every conversation. We are related to one another like different parts in the same body. (Which means that cheating one another would be cheating yourself! …) Even if you think you have a valid excuse, do not let anger dominate your day! If you don’t deal with it immediately (in the light of the likeness of Christ in you) the sun sets for you and your day becomes one of lost opportunity where darkness employs anger to snare you into sin. Any sin that you tolerate is an open invitation to the devil. Do not give him a platform to operate from. If you were a thief before, you are one no more. Find an honest joy where the fruit of your labor can be a blessing to others! Instead of cheap talk, your mouth is now a fountain of grace, giving encouragement and inspiration to everyone within earshot. The Holy Spirit is your signet ring from God to confirm that you are redeemed to live your life in the light of day; any conduct that belongs to the night grieves him. Take up the strongest possible position against every form of distorted behavior in your own life. Do not allow yourself to be spiteful; outbursts of violent emotion and rage do not become you. You don’t have to shout in order to make your point. People must feel safe in your conversation; therefore, slander and hurtful words (blasphemy) are out! Be inspired by kindness and compassion; your forgiving one another when you might feel irritated and frustrated demonstrates the way God graciously treated us in Christ. Mirror God; you are his offspring. (2 Cor. 3:18.) This is how; let the love of Christ be your life; remember how he abandoned himself to us. His love is contagious, not reluctant but extravagant. Sacrificial love pleases God like the sweet aroma of worship.” Ephesians 4:25–5:2 Mirror Bible
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Rooted and Grounded in Love
By Linda Rex
July 28, 2024, Proper 12 | After Pentecost—One of the prayers I find myself praying out of the Bible is the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Ephesians 3:14-21. Praying the scriptures is a great way to participate in the divine conversation between our Father and his Son Jesus in the Spirit.
In this particular prayer, the apostle Paul brings the believers in Ephesia back to their central identity in Christ. He begins by stating that every nation, family, and person finds their source or name in our heavenly Father, who created all things through Jesus Christ and by the Spirit, to reflect his very being. In Paul’s reflective prayer we find expressed his adoration of this one God, who indwells humans and grounds them in the love freely flowing between the Father and Son in the Spirit.
As we face the conflict and polarization found so often within our current culture, it is important to remind ourselves of where we find our origin, and what our purpose is in this world. So often our culture and society seek to define us and to tell us who we are and who we need to pledge our allegiance to. We find ourselves drawn to take sides and to embrace hostility, hate, and violence as the means to effectively enforce our distinctions and differences. We seem to forget, in the process of trying to protect ourselves and our position, that we were not created to live in this way.
As those grounded in the love of God in Christ by the Spirit, we are, whether we like it or not, bound to one another with cords that cannot be broken. Christ has brought the entire human race together in his person as God in human flesh, having lived our life, died our death, and risen, and returned into glory, and sent the Spirit. Our differences and distinctions were intended to create a greater, more magnificent whole, rather than creating a conflagration of anger and hate, resulting in conflicting sides. What a tragedy, that in this time when there needs to be a unified effort towards a greater, more peaceful and holy oneness, we have instead found more and more ways to create division and disunity!
That great American experiment that is our nation was meant to be a collection of persons from many backgrounds, ethnicities, and races joined together in equality into one nation, unified and free. Our experience of this ideal has been mixed and often far from what was intended. It most certainly has not been a true reflection of our Triune God. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that too often we have not been free, but enslaved in some way—to debt, to addictions, to materialism, to hedonism. Many of us have been at odds with one another in some way, refusing to let go of our prejudices, our positions of power or position or wealth, to love and serve one another. How we desperately need to pray this prayer of unity, calling us up to who we are in Christ!
No human government will ever be an expression of the kingdom of God on earth, for the kingdom of God is meant to be established within human hearts and lives. It is God, through Jesus in the Spirit, coming to live in human hearts who realigns us with the truth of our existence. It is God’s power at work in this world, in and through us, who enables us to reframe our existence and our identity within the Triune life and love, in Father, Son, and Spirit. It in Christ in us by the Spirit who unifies us and makes us one.
We need to be wary of anyone who uses religion as a means to promote a new national agenda. We are not Christian nationalists. Instead, we need to come humbly before the God who elevates and demotes leaders of nations, and seek his direction and will. It is God, who dwells eternally in other-centered, self-giving love, who directs our steps and guides our decisions. He is the one who “finds his ultimate expression” in us as human beings, and who will move to accomplish his purposes and plans as we respond to the lead of his Spirit. He knows what he has in mind and who it is he would have accomplish it. As we trust in his love, his indwelling presence through Jesus in the Spirit will do more than we could ever ask or imagine.
… I bow my knees before you, Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of your glory you may grant that we may be strengthened with power through your Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith—that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all your fullness, dear God. Now to you who are able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to you be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. [drawn from the ESV]
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14–21 NASB
“Overwhelmed by what grace communicates, I bow my knees in awe before the Father. Every family in heaven and on earth originates in him; his is mankind’s family name and he remains the authentic identity of every nation. I desire for you to realize what the Father has always envisaged for you, so that you may know the magnitude of his intent and be dynamically reinforced in your inner being by the Spirit of God. This will ignite your faith to fully grasp the reality of the indwelling Christ. You are rooted and founded in love. Love is your invisible inner source, just like the root system of a tree and the foundation of a building. Love is your reservoir of super human strength which causes you to see everyone equally sanctified in the context of the limitless extent of love’s breadth and length and the extremities of its dimensions in depth and height. I desire for you to become intimately acquainted with the love of Christ on the deepest possible level; far beyond the reach of a mere academic, intellectual grasp. Within the scope of this equation God finds the ultimate expression of himself in you. We celebrate him who supercharges us powerfully from within. Our biggest request or most amazing dream cannot match the extravagant proportion of his thoughts towards us. He is both the author and the conclusion of the glory on display in the ekklesia, mirrored in Christ Jesus. The encore continues throughout every generation, not only in this age but also in the countless ages to come. Amen!”
Ephesians 3:14-21 Mirror Bible
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God’s Lavish Grace
By Linda Rex
July 14, 2024, Proper 10 | After Pentecost—In my view, one very inspiring passage with regards to God’s grace is the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Ephesians 1:3-14. In this opening eulogy (which in Greek is one very long sentence), the lavish grace of God is celebrated and extolled by the apostle Paul.
As Paul blesses the God who has blessed all of us “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” we are swept up into adoration and worship of the Triune God who has brought us into relationship with himself through Jesus in the Spirit. You might wish to stop and take a moment to underline or mark each time Paul uses the expression “in Christ” or “in him” or something similar in this pericope. In this short passage, which celebrates the passionate and lavish love of our heavenly Father, we find that his beloved Son, Jesus, is central to our redemption, salvation, and glorification. It is in Jesus Christ that we find ourselves lavishly gifted and included in his own relationship with his Father in the Spirit. All human effort drops off into the pool of participation in Christ, and we find ourselves swept up into and included in Jesus’ own life with his Abba in the Spirit.
Here, in the midst of this blessing, we discover the magnitude and depths of God’s love for us. God’s passionate affection for us, his creatures, is expressed by his choice that we be holy and blameless before him—in Christ, before the foundation of the world. We discover that God always meant for us to be his adopted children. God always meant for us to live in union and communion with himself in the Spirit. So, in Christ, he did all that was necessary for this to occur, enabling us to be who he created us to be, inheritors of salvation, participants in God’s life and love by the heavenly Spirit.
The concept of adoption in this passage points to a couple of things. First, in the Mirror Bible, the translator says that the word for sonship or adoption, huiothesia, refers more to a coming of age rather than the idea of Roman adoption. According to this metaphor, in Christ, our humanity comes to its fullest and most profound expression. The fulfillment of all God meant for us as human beings is found in Jesus Christ, the one who is fully God and fully man, who has lived our life, died our death, and risen again, sending us the Spirit so we may share in his divine perfections and in his own face-to-face communion with his Father in the Spirit.
Secondly, as other commentators point out, in the Roman culture of that day a newborn child was often placed at the father’s feet. The father then chose whether to keep or discard the child. Such a child could be rejected or disinherited at any point in his or her life, depending upon the father’s choice. In contrast, in the Roman culture of that day, an adoption was a difficult and expensive process, and once done, could not be undone. Therefore, an adopted child was always included in the family and could never be disinherited. In this metaphor, God’s passionate love for us as his children is expressed in his selection of us, but going even beyond that, in his adoption of us as his very own. In this way, adoption, and even sonship, become powerful metaphors for the lavish love and grace of our heavenly Father, when it comes to our inclusion in God’s life and love.
When we take the time to meditate on this passage, it is inspiring to consider how much God, from before time began, considered us. When we believe that God doesn’t even realize we exist or that he doesn’t really care, we should look at the broad horizon of our human existence, however long it may be. And as we do this, we want to go even farther back, before all that. Before time began, we were on God’s mind and heart, and he was planning for us. Like parents planning for the coming of a newborn child, our heavenly Father excitedly planned for our existence, creating through his Son by the Spirit a world in which we could live, explore, and grow into maturity. And our Triune God planned for our turning away into sin and death, knowing that he, in Christ, held the key for our ultimate redemption, salvation, and glorification. Our Father’s purposes and plans will be realized in spite of our failures and shortcomings, because we are in Christ and have been given, and in him have received, the Holy Spirit. And this is why, even when life looks dark, we have hope.
Dear Trinity, thank you for including us in your life and love. Thank you for lavishing your grace upon us, through all you have done from before time, are doing even now, and will do in the world to come. Awaken us to the abundance of all the spiritual blessings which are ours in you, our blessed Father, Jesus, and Spirit. Amen.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:3–14 NASB
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At Our Weakest Point
By Linda Rex
July 7, 2024, Proper 9 | After Pentecost—Are you in one of those seasons when it seems that the Spirit is constantly showing you ways in which you need to grow up in Christ? Or perhaps, events in your life keep occurring which cause you to feel powerless, weak, and afflicted? In times like this, we can allow ourselves to lose our vision of the truth that is ours in Jesus.
In our New Testament reading for this Sunday, 2 Corinthians 12:2–10, the apostle Paul goes back to an event which took place early in his walk with Christ. God gave him a vision of glory which was so sublime that Paul himself could not and would not put it into words. Paul had a genuine experience by the Spirit, which in comparison with his critics, was a real revelation of the Lord. Even though Paul could have bragged about it and impressed everybody with his spiritual prowess, he refused to do so. Paul found no pleasure in elevating himself in this way.
Rather, what Paul wanted to draw attention to were his weaknesses. In this sense, the apostle was focused on those areas in his life where he was most in need of Jesus. Indeed, when his life was filled with circumstances in which he faced insults, needs, persecution and struggle, Paul joyfully embraced these situations. It was at these weakest points that Paul most vividly experienced the presence and power of God. And this was what he preferred to experience and boast about. He had no desire to glory in himself or his own spiritual prowess. What he wanted to glory in was Jesus Christ living his life in and through him by the heavenly Spirit.
Many times, as we live the Christian life or follow Christ, we easily slip into the mode of rule keeping and trying to do the right thing. We get so obsessed about being good people that we don’t even realize that we have lost our sense of the most essential thing—the abiding presence and power of God at work in us and in our lives. We can be so intent on doing the ministry or mission we feel called to, and be using every technique and best practice we know of to try and do it well and get it right, and never realize that all we are doing is a self-directed, self-empowered effort we are able to take the full credit for. Yes, we may even give credit to God, but in reality, we are in full control of what is being done in the name of Jesus.
What we may forget is that in those times when life seems most out of our control, when our ministry efforts seem most futile and filled with opposition, that this is when we are in the best place we could possibly be. It is in this place where God can enter in and work most powerfully, bringing about the impossible and redeeming the unforgiveable. When we embrace our weaknesses, our frailty, and our limitations, and place them into the hands of our loving God, here is where he can and will go to work in a powerful way to bring about what we are unable to do on our own.
Indeed, God is always at work in this world, sharing the good news of his love and grace, and caring for all he has made. And he includes us in what he is doing. For that reason, we need to remember that all of life, and especially anything we may do in his name, is a participation in Christ, in his own life with his Father in the Spirit. How can we possibly take the glory for doing or accomplishing what first was done and is being done and will be done by Jesus in the Spirit, long before we were ever in the picture? And it is better this way, for our genuine life in Christ becomes so much more joyful and blessed when it is all up to him and not left all up to us. Jesus lives out our true response to God in the Spirit, and we join in.
So weakness, frailty, suffering, struggle—all these things we prefer to be without—become the very things which bind us firmly to the One who has made us his very own. At the moment of Jesus’ greatest human weakness, suffering, and loss he was actually at his most powerful position as the Lord of all—he died that we might live. Jesus entered into our depths to bring us up into the heights of glory. Now this is something to boast about!
Our dear Father, Jesus, and heavenly Spirit, thank you for including us in your life and love. Forgive our blindness to the spiritual realities. Awaken us to the truth of our participation in you, Jesus, by your Spirit. May we draw upon your presence and power, and ever give you, our Triune God, the glory. Amen.
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:2–10 NASB
“I know of an encounter in Christ fourteen years ago, where a person was translated into the third heaven. Only God knows whether it was in or out of the body; it does not really matter to me! This person was caught up into paradise! There he heard words that could not be articulated into language; he understood a conversation that did not originate in human thought! Of this encounter I will confidently boast because it has nothing to do with anything that I did to promote myself! I would rather glory in that which emphasizes my failure to get it right by myself! Divine revelation is a gift, not a reward! Even though I have legitimate reasons to boast, I prefer not to. My life speaks for itself and I have nothing to hide! In sharp contrast to these spiritual revelations, the physical pain that I suffered and my severe discomfort momentarily distracted me. I was as if the old mindset of accusation (Satan) persuaded me that this affliction was actually God’s way of keeping me humble. I almost believed this lie and even implored the Lord three times to remove the thorn from my flesh. Finally it dawned on me that grace is God’s language; he doesn’t speak ‘thorn-language’! He said to me, ‘My grace elevates you, to be fully content.’ And now, instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of my own weakness, he overwhelms me with an awareness of his strength! Oh what bliss to rejoice in the fact that in the midst of my frailties I encounter the dynamic of the grace of God to be my habitation! I now enjoy a delightfully different frame of mind when I encounter things that would normally make me feel frail, whether it be from insults or when I am in situations where I’m forced to do things with my arms twisted behind my back; whether I am persecuted or feel squeezed into claustrophobic spaces. Because of Christ, every time that I encounter weakness I escape into the strength of my I am-ness!” 2 Corinthians 12:2–10 Mirror Bible
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On Behalf of Others
By Linda Rex
June 16, 2024, Proper 6 | After Pentecost—As part of my morning routine, I often read a chapter out of a book on theology or the Christian faith. My most recent book has been Hidden in Contradiction by Jeff McSwain, which I am rereading. In the chapter I read this morning, New and Old, Jeff talks about our New Testament passage for this Sunday, 2 Corinthians 5:6–10, 14–17.
Jeff shows how we often read the last portion of this passage, “the old things passed away; behold, new things have come”, and assume that this means that when we come to faith in Christ, we are made new, so we will never repeat the old ways we were caught up in before. This doesn’t wholly reflect the reality of our walk in Christ, for any of us who are honest with ourselves and others, and are truthful before God, know that our thought-life and daily walk very often do not fully measure up to the goodness and glory of God we were created to reflect.
Jeff’s point in this chapter is that because all persons died with Christ and rose with Christ, we are all caught up in the reality of the already-not-yet of God’s kingdom. By faith we walk in the new life which is ours, which is “hidden with Christ in God.” But in our broken flesh, we still find ourselves at times walking in old ways, those ways which Jesus crucified on the cross and buried with himself in the grave, those things we are dead to. Just as Jesus is now fully God and fully man, right now we live daily in that place where all that God created us to be and redeemed us to is true, but we are still having to experience and live in the false self, the “old man” as the apostle Paul calls it. We are growing up in Christ, maturing in our faith, becoming more and more who God created us to be, but we will never fully reflect the divine nature until Jesus returns in glory and we are changed. Then all God created us to be will be fully revealed.
This is the paradox which we find difficult to understand or live in. This may be why the apostle Paul said that he would rather be “absent from the body” and “at home with the Lord”. If you are like me, there are times when this life, and our tendency to drift towards the things of this passing temporal existence, grieve us, and we long to be freed. We want to be with Jesus forever, living in the glorious, joyful bliss of God’s heavenly kingdom here on earth. The good news is that even though we will continue to live in this broken existence for a time, not only is our future life with Christ certain, but we can begin to experience moments of God’s kingdom joy and peace even now in this life by the Spirit. We participate in God’s life and mission on this earth as part of our everyday existence, even when it seems that we cannot get it right and we find ourselves breaking faith with God and others.
What holds us together and keeps us moving forward in hope is the precious gift God has given to us in his Son and in his Spirit. It is God’s love which drives us on and compels us to not only live out his kingdom life in this world, but also to share it with others. God’s love for us is so profound, so great and wonderful, that we find we want to share this good news with others. We don’t want to keep it all to ourselves.
And that is truly the heart of God, as Father, Son, and Spirit. This triune God, who for all eternity, lives in other-centered, self-giving love, was willing to do something tremendous and unthinkably amazing on behalf of his creatures and his creation. Indeed, on behalf of all of us, for our sake, the Son of God set aside the privileges of divinity for a time to join us in our humanity, in order to bring us home into the inner fellowship of Father, Son, and Spirit. And in Christ, that is where we are all today.
Our hope is in Christ, in his finished work, in what he has done, is doing, and will do. God’s motive of other-centered, self-giving, sacrificial love is what motivates each of us to be other-centered, self-giving, and sacrificial. When you see this kind of love being expressed, God is the source of such love, whether the person knows or understands it, or not. As we see God’s love being expressed in these ways, we are called to bear witness to it—to testify to the beauty and wonder of God’s love. And, as we respond to the leading of the Spirit, we will find ourselves living and serving, on behalf of others. And by doing this, that we reflect the glory of God, and his Son, in the Spirit. We live in the truth of who we are as his beloved children. Praise his holy name!
Heavenly Triune God, thank for all you have done on our behalf. By your Spirit, enable us to live, not for ourselves, but for you, Lord Jesus—you who died and rose on our behalf. Grant us the grace to live our lives as you have, on behalf of others. In your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
“Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:6–10 (11–13) 14–17 NASB
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Fear or Faith
By Linda Rex
May 26, 2024—Holy Trinity | After Pentecost—One of the things I’ve noticed lately has been how often our decisions, our behavior, and our attitudes are governed by fear. Often, when I ask someone what they are afraid of, they completely deny that there is any fear involved at all. They deny that fear has anything to do with why they are acting a certain way or saying particular things, even though it is obvious to others that they are afraid.
In our New Testament reading for Holy Trinity Sunday, Romans 8:12–17, the apostle Paul points out the difference between slavery and sonship. He says that a spirit of slavery has its basis in fear, whereas, a spirit of sonship is based in love. What God has given us through Christ in the Spirit is a participation in the love of Father, Son, and Spirit. This means there is no reason for us to be afraid or to have a sense of fear in regards to God.
But often, the way in which we live our lives and make our decisions is rooted in fear. Because we do not know God well and trust him in every circumstance, we find ourselves immobilized, unable to courageously move forward. Or, we sense a thousand and one reasons why everything is going to go wrong or has gone awry, because we simply cannot believe that God is present, real, and loves us unconditionally, completely, and ceaselessly.
Our response as a result of fear rather than of faith often looks more like slavery than love. Indeed, when we are fearful, we tend to gravitate towards actions and words that will give us a feeling of control or mastery in the situation. We create rules or expectations or standards by which we measure our standing. We assess whether or not we are safe or are okay in our relationships with God or others. When taken to its worst end, fear blinds us to the reality of God’s love and grace, preventing us from living and walking in the truth of who we are as God’s beloved children. Indeed, fear often drives our responses, and its ultimate affect is destructive and unhealthy for us, creating division, pain, death, and isolation in our relationships. And this is not God’s desire for us.
If we sense fear within ourselves or realize that our decisions and how we are responding to situations is being driven by fear, we need to reconsider where we stand in relation to our Triune God. It takes a measure of humility and self-awareness to admit that perhaps we are driven by fear rather than living out of a heart filled with the love of God in Christ by the Spirit. Are we willing to admit that we are responding out of fear rather than simply trusting in our loving, gracious God?
How well do we know our God who is Father, Son, and Spirit? It is our God who is love, living in our hearts, who drives out the fear which seeks to take up residence within. In our life today, our hearts may be given over to fear or given over to love—we have both at work in our human flesh right now. But the apostle Paul says that we have no obligation to live in fear or to allow fear to be the driving force within. One day fear will be removed forever, but meanwhile, suffering will occur and fear will challenge our trust in our Triune God.
Indeed, we are new creations. We have been given God’s Spirit, the presence of God living in us, filling us with his love. We have no obligation to the deeds of death. Rather, we are bound by the Spirit to live and walk in love, for this is the truth of who we are as image-bearers of Christ. It is Jesus’ life in us by the Spirit which motivates us. God’s love poured out on and in us in the Spirit pours out from us to those around us. In this place of divine love and grace, there is no room left for fear. This is why we turn to Jesus, and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit. God’s perfect love casts out our fear and gives us faith.
The Holy Spirit, given to us by Jesus from the Father, binds our hearts and our spirits with God, uniting us and making us one. In the Spirit, resonating within us, is the affection between the Father and the Son, as we hear within our heart Jesus’ own “Abba, Father.” In this safe place, held in God’s love and life, we are free from fear. We rest our head on the chest of our loving Father, and feel the loving arms of our Lord Jesus, and the kiss of the Spirit on our cheek. In the embrace of the holy Trinity, there is no room left for fear.
Dearest Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for wrapping us in your warm embrace of love and grace. Enable us to see and confess our fear, to turn towards you in faith, and to allow you to fill us with your perfect love. Grant us the grace to rest in your grace and love, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:12–17 NASB
“We owe flesh nothing. In the light of all this, to now continue to live under the sinful influences of the senses, is to reinstate the dominion of spiritual death. Instead, we are indebted to now exhibit the highest expression of life inspired by the Spirit. This life demonstrates zero tolerance to the habits and sinful patterns of the flesh. The original life of the Father revealed in his Son is the life the Spirit now conducts within us. Slavery is such a poor substitute for sonship. They are opposites; the one leads forcefully through fear while sonship responds fondly to Abba Father. We are not slaves to a cruel taskmaster but gifted with the spirit of sonship; engaging the tender affection of Papa without any reserve. Holy Spirit personally entwines our spirit; resonating ceaselessly within, endorsing Abba’s parenthood. The fact that we are God’s offspring, certainly also means that we are equal heirs of God. Not only is God our portion, but we are his. We are co-heirs in Christ. So, whatever we may suffer, at any time could separate us from our inclusion in his sufferings. Thus, every reminder of this mystery, also reinforces the fact that we have been made equal participants in the glory of his resurrection.” Romans 8:12–17 Mirror Bible
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