As we draw near the end of this “Sit” section of Paul’s letter he takes us into even deeper waters that we might be fully equipped for our work. In this section each chapter has introduced us to one of “M’s,” the nuts and bolts of serving in God’s subversive counter-revolutionary movement. Our task in this section is to “sit” – to allow Paul’s exposition of God’s unfathomable grace to wash over us, saturate us, and remake our hearts and minds by its gracious truth and reality. In ch.1 he shows us the mystery of God’s gracious plan to gather all things up in Christ. Next he unveils the critical importance of memory to growing and functioning as God’s people. Now in ch.3 he stands forth himself as the model of the servanthood that alone reflects the love of God’s own heart and refracts it to the powers to announce the end of their death-dealing ways and the growth of God’s movement to reclaim his creation and his rightful lordship over it. Chief among what we might ponder in this chapter are the following matters.
1. Paul presents himself in this section as “the very least of all the saints” (v.8). As such he is called to be the leader of the mission to the Gentiles. He himself well knew that God works in and through our weakness. He also knows that is this regard he is a contagious model for his churches. I offer here a comparison of the world’s way and God’s way for our reflection.
Worldly Wisdom
-assumes access to ‘natural’ resources that is the preserve of the few
-assumes self-sufficiency
-powerful people highlight their strengths and cover up their weaknesses
-expect God should remove our weaknesses and enhance our strength
Godly Wisdom
-assumes no correlation to ‘natural’ resources and is available to anyone
-assumes realizing your weakness
-powerful people accept and on occasion even boast about their weaknesses
-expect God to allow all kinds of weaknesses so we can become more powerful[1]
2. Read, ponder, pray
“It is always upon human weakness . . . not on human strength and confidence, that God chooses to build his kingdom; and he can (do this) not merely in spite of our ordinariness and helplessness and disqualifying infirmities, but precisely because of them. It is a thrilling discovery to make, and it can revolutionize our . . . outlook.”[2]
3. The Centrality of Church
In his song “Those Love Songs” off his “Kingdom in the Streets” album, Ken Medema sings:
“You seem to like the singular pronoun me and Jesus is the name of the game I’ve heard your testimony, I wouldn’t call them phony But why do they sound the same? You seem to have neglected the plural Whatever happened to the family? Have you come to the garden along for so long That you’ve forgotten community?
I’m sick of those I am his and he is mine And doesn’t it make me feel good love songs Cause I’ve read the book and it doesn’t turn out that way We need a few more we are his he calls us to his service work songs He calls us together to give our lives away”
To what degree is this true of you and you church tradition? Do you need to work at re-prioritizing the place of the church in your life and discipleship to bring it in line with Paul’s vision here in Eph.3?
Paul’s second great prayer in this letter is up next (3:14-21). In it he re-works this same material into a prayer which serves to bring this first “Sit” section of his letter to a rousing climax and confusion.
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