Following on from last week’s message we will continue with our journey through Ephesians. Keeping in mind that in Christ Jesus all things in heaven and earth will be brought together as one. That is both spheres, the heavenlies and the earth will be united in perfect harmony in Jesus. Even tho our salvation is eternal and we have our eternal hope, it is God’s will we live spiritually in the equality of His kingdom, now in this world damaged by evil. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus' name.
For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Also connect with us in discipleship, watch our videos, follow us on facebook or send us an email
Following on from last week’s message we will continue with our journey through Ephesians. Keeping in mind that in Christ Jesus all things in heaven and earth will be brought together as one. That is both spheres, the heavenlies and the earth will be united in perfect harmony in Jesus. Even tho our salvation is eternal and we have our eternal hope, it is God’s will we live spiritually in the equality of His kingdom, now in this world damaged by evil. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus' name.
For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Also connect with us in discipleship, watch our videos, follow us on facebook or send us an email
00:00 Intro music and voice over.
Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!
00:20 Speaker
Following on from last week’s message we will continue with our journey through Ephesians. Keeping in mind that in Christ Jesus all things in heaven and earth will be brought together as one. That is both spheres, the heavenlies and the earth will be united in perfect harmony in Jesus.
Where in the fullness of time, we will live together with God and each other in a place where evil does not exist. There will be no more sorrow, no more loss, no more tears, no more death and no more pain.
For all who have said yes to Jesus, yes to God, eternity will be living in the fullness of God’s kingdom of equality and respect. Where all people of every tribe, gender and age are equal.
Even tho our salvation is eternal and we have our eternal hope, it is God’s will we live spiritually in the equality of His kingdom, now in this world damaged by evil.
Ephesians 2:11-22 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
So those of Jewish lineage and non Jewish lineage become one in Christ Jesus. At the time of writing there was inequality between those of Jewish lineage and those that were not.
There was a middle wall in the temple that separated the Jew from the non Jew. In fact the non Jews were relegated to an outer court. Even within the court for those of Jewish lineage there was a dividing wall between male and female.
Within the temple there was the inner section that was considered the most holy of places. In this place, only the priest of Jewish lineage could enter and make sacrifices on behalf of the people. As part of a sacrificial system, God gave the Jewish people the law. So that they could realise their need for a saviour and choose to be truly free.
Jesus’ sacrifice was for all people throughout the ages. Even those who will never receive Him.
Having received Jesus’ human sacrifice of Himself, we are brought near to God the Father. Into the love relationship of intimacy and oneness that Jesus the Son and the Father in heaven have. We are holy, without blame, accepted in the beloved, redeemed, forgiven, saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Jesus is our peace. He has made both Jew and non Jew one in Him.
In receiving Jesus’ sacrifice, enables us to believe and receive. He is the peace and union between the divine and natural, spiritual and physical, infinite and finite, the heavens and the earth. Jesus is also the peace between Jew and non Jew, male and female, adult and child, slave and free, all equal equal.
In Jesus we are no longer foreigners, but fellow citizens of heaven. Members of God’s household, a child of the living God. Each one of us individually is the dwelling place of God. We are fitted together as His holy temple. For wherever God dwells, it is declared holy ground.
We are His holy ground. In Christ Jesus our finite bodies are the dwelling place of the infinite God. God’s presence with us, is heaven on earth in us. Jesus having made peace for us, enables us to be at home with God, dwelling in Him. So that we can live in this world damaged by evil out of the same intimacy and love that Jesus had when He walked the earth as a man with the Father in heaven.
In Christ Jesus there is no separation from God or each other. We are fellow citizens of God’s eternal household through the ages.
Together with the Apostles, who were eye witnesses to Jesus’s time on earth in human form, we testify to the powers the manifold wisdom of God. The wisdom and great sacrificial, selfless love of God in Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. The Apostles testimony of Jesus and their writings of the New Testament come together with the writings of the prophets of the Old Testament. The prophets prophesied about Jesus and His coming. Together the Old and New Testament form the foundation of the truth. That is to be established in the truth about God - Father, Son and Spirit and be one in Him.
In Jesus both those who received God of the Old Testament and those of the New Testament, which includes us, come together as one. The fulfilment of that will come into a physical reality when Jesus returns. However it is a spiritual reality for us now, even as we live in this physical world damaged by evil.
As we are spiritually transformed in this world of inequality and injustice, we can see others through God’s eyes. God’s eyes of unconditional love, equality and respect.
That is His transforming work and the daily journey with Him. As we daily surrender our selfish desires to control or dominate another to get what we want, to that of the Father’s will in bringing all things together as one in Christ, we receive more of His love, truth and power. For it is only out of Christ Jesus’ love in us, that we can be empowered to live in this world damaged by evil, seeing others as God sees them, equal-equal.
In Ephesians the Apostle Paul puts it this way. Submitting to one another. That is surrender the selfish desire to control or dominate or manipulate another to get what self wants. In the culture at the time of writing their were enormous imbalances of power. Humanity’s hierarchical structures were evident in every relationship. In this world damaged by evil humanity’s selfish desires and abuses of power are still with us today.
The culture at the time of writing determined that the male was the only power and authority in a marriage. A man’s selfish desires are to control or dominate and oppress another to get what he wants. So Paul knowing this speaks life and light, freedom and respect into the relationship of marriage.
ephesians 5 Verse 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…
Verse 28-29 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
Verse 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
To the husband who has been given the power by the culture at the time that is without God, God is saying surrender. As you surrender that desire to control and dominate your wife, you will receive more of my will.
My will is that all things are equal and one in Christ Jesus. So out of a revelation of my love shown and given to you in the gift of my Son Jesus, husbands you ought to love your wives out my selfless love in you.
Even tho Paul is also talking about the relationship of Jesus and the church, he also speaks to the wife of the relationship of marriage.
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord… Verse 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
To the wives God through Paul says, surrender your desire to control and manipulate the husband to get what you want. As you wives surrender your selfish desires you will honour and respect your husband.
The cultural imbalance of power and its negative effects upon the marriage dissolves as both husband and wife surrender their selfish desires. Even tho we are living in this world’s hierarchical structures and imbalance of power the husband and wife relationship in Christ Jesus is to be one of equality and respect. This is a work of God as each one surrenders to God and receives of Him.
Another relationship of imbalance of power that existed at the time of writing was masters and slaves. God does not approve of slavery or oppression of others. The empires of humanity without God have oppressed others and bought and sold a person. Treating them as inferior beings. However given that owning a slave was legal under the Roman Empire rule, Paul again speaks light and life, freedom and equality into the injustices of this world.
Ephesians 6:5-9 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
Paul advised that those in power, in this instance the masters, surrender their selfish desires to Father God’s will, which is equality and freedom in Christ Jesus, He will transform them. Out of God’s love and truth in them they then will treat others including slaves with honour and respect. See them through God’s eyes of love as equal. It is clear God does not show any partiality. He loves and honours each one equally.
Same for the slaves. When they daily surrender their selfish desires to control and manipulate others to get what they want and receive more of God they too will see others as equal and be truly free.
In surrender to God, receiving from Him, both master and slave will see each other as equal through God’s eyes. Breaking the negative effects of the imbalance of power in relationships in this world damaged by evil.
Another relationship in this world damaged by evil is children and adults. At the time of writing children were considered lesser than an adult. So Paul speaks to the one that has the power.
Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Father’s surrender the selfish desire to dominate others to get what self wants and receive more of God’s love, truth and power. Out of His transforming work within then you will love and nurture your children, instead of dominate and oppress. They will see and treat their children as equal.
Paul also has wisdom for the children. Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
Obey is to first listen. To be able to listen and learn a child also to is to surrender their selfish desires. Out of receiving more of God’s love and transformed heart they will value their parents and with God’s honour and respect, treat them that way.
Again in surrender of selfish desires to that of the Father’s will of all in one in Christ Jesus, He brings that unity and oneness in our relationships that have imbalances of power. As we daily surrender our selfish desires to that of the Father’s will of all things in one in Christ Jesus, He transforms us. It is together we are His testimony, to the praise of His glory amen!
19:40 Outro music and voice over.
For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!