Armor of God, put it on!

Eph. 6 is most well known for the Armor of God. But like Eph. 5, it also has some good stuff prior to that earlier in the chapter.

In vs. 5-9 Paul gives a radical departure in slave to master relations. In a time when slaves were considered property and not really close to being people, Paul calls on slaves to honor their masters and be obedient all the time, even when the master is not there. But, more importantly, Paul calls on the masters to treat their slaves as equals, telling them that Christ sees no partiality...vs 9 '...knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

More to come on this soon...

Submission time baby!!!!

So, we went through Eph. 5 a couple weeks ago, but better late than never, so here you go!

Eph. 5 was a great chapter, full of fun, non-controversial topics like the roles of men and women! But before we get there, Paul addresses another important topic. In the first half of Eph. 5, Paul really sets a high standard for Believers to live by. Particularly striking to me was in vs. 4 when he says 'there must be no filthinies and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.' I often find myself slipping into coarse joking or insinuating around my friends when there are no other non-believers around, because I don't have to maintain my 'witness.' But, this is hypocritical, in that we are called to honor Christ at all times. I was challenged by this to clean up my own behavior! But what Eph. 5 is most known for is its address of the roles of men and women.

There was much anticipation regarding this chapter, because the way many people interpret the verses in 5:21-33 can vary, usually causing strife that shouldn't be there or fear to tackle an important issue.

The 'popular' thing to do is only quote vs. 22 'Wives, be subject to your own husbands.' That is where many stop and use this as a way to try and put women in their place. But, they forget to keep reading! The verse continues and says 'Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as unto the Lord.' Paul then goes on to describe the role of wives as one of submission to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. But, the women get off easy! (not really, submitting to Christ can really be tough for us selfish humans). Verses 25-29 explain the role of husbands. Paul says that we must treat our wives like Christ treated His church.
So, would you rather have to be the church or Christ? Both are hard, but being called to act as Christ did towards the church is a tall order. Why? oh yeah, because Christ was PERFECT!

I think what Paul is communicating is that if we seek to fulfill the roles above, we will honor God first and each other second. Strong, vibrant and whole relationships will ensue and we will feel secure in the roles God has called us to. Figuring out the nuances and exact definition of what those roles are in every day life, I'll leave up to you!

Funked-ified

Ever have one of those days that you find yourself in a total funk and you don't know why? Yep, that's where I'm at today. It's like there is nothing you can do, but just get through the day so it will pass; and it does. Since I can't figure it out, I decided to call my state of being right now Funked-ified (Funked and Mystified together). I'm mystified as to why I'm funked out!

All that said, I knew that reading my bible just might help a bit. So I opened up to Luke 4. Simply put, this chapter ROCKS! It's Jesus' ministry bar-mitvah. We knew He was special way back at age 12 when He dumbfounded the religious leaders at the temple. But this is where Jesus starts his ministry 'manhood,' if you will (please do!).

So, Jesus heads out to the wilderness for 40 days of fasting.

-ok, HOLD IT, 40 days of fasting IN THE WILDERNESS?! As PM would most likely say, Jesus, You da MAN!-

Verse 2 says Jesus was out in the wilderness and '...for forty days, being tempted by the devil.' We usually read this story as Jesus only being tempted 3 times, but that wasn't true, it was much more than that! It was only after the 40 days that the big ones were used by Satan, but of course to no avail. Once again, Jesus goes straight Samurai on Satan, resisting temptation and honoring His Father. (I don't know what going straight Samurai means, but I like how it sounds right now!) Verse 14 says 'And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit...'
My guess is that you'd be feeling the power too after such a spiritual test. So, the short of it is Jesus is ready to kick some butt and take names for the kingdom!
So Jesus just strolls into Nazareth, into the synogogue, reads some Isaiah about the Messiah and then tells them that (vs. 21) 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.' That's a pretty bold statement and is hard to handle for the people there, but they go ahead and accept Jesus and have a party for Him.
Oh, wait, that's not it. Nope, they force him out of the synogogue and are going to throw Him off a cliff! But, they don't succeed. Verse 30 says, 'But passing through their midst, He went on His way.' Jesus must have had this look in His eye or just a presence that conveyed a hidden power. That hidden power was probably percieved as either very good or very bad, depending on how you viewed Jesus. I think this intangible of Jesus was one of the many that attracted so many people to Him.
Then Jesus goes on a demon-outing, body healing, lost saving trip, just another day in the life of the Son of God!!!!

Man, Jesus is pretty awesome! If that help get you out of the funked-ified or at least on the road out, I don't know what will!

When you are feeling out of it, read a little of God's Word, its the 'spirit fuel' we all need! God's blessings on whoever happens to get this far on today's post! May Christ's power be made evident in you!

Ephesians Chapter 4.

So Eph. 4 took 2 studies (over 3 weeks) to get through, which just goes to show how chock full of good stuff it is!

Chapter 4 focuses a lot on the idea of unity with fellow believers. This is particularly important in today's world where we have so many different denominations and individual churches. Even at NCC, we have two locations. The temptation is to view each other as competition vs. players on the same team, just with different things to contribute. A couple weeks ago, one of the people at our study 'opened the can of worms' that is denominations, certainly a touchy subject in our day(even the non-denominational church has become a denomination!). Two thoughts on Denominations:

I am not a huge fan of them. Many churches have split over minor doctrinal issues that should be debated in a loving context within the church. If you can't reconcile differences of opinion, then maybe a church split is ok. But, it can lead to dangerous disunity in the church at large. Which is quite evident in the current state of the church. When the 'world' sees Christ followers arguing and bickering over these things, I don't think Christ is being glorified and honored.
Some biblical/doctrinal debates should be only conducted internally within the church, because non-believers won't understand the issues and it will leave a negative impression.
To catagorize this, I think anything that does not have to do with essential doctrine, that which would affect someone's eternal destination, does not have a place outside the church. What good is it going to do to argue over an issue like speaking in tongues or Biblical roles of men and women with or around non-believers? I believe that best left in a private setting within the church. Finally, above all its important for us, when discussing any point of contention to follow what Eph. 4:15-16 says: But in speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. It does no good to debate these things, unless we do it together in the context of God's love.

Now that I've blasted denominations, I'll make my second point to try and salvage myself! We had a tough talk on denominations, but it was mentioned and we all agreed, that denominations are a great benefit to us, in as much as they provide different ways for us to express our love to God and to worship Him. We aren't robots all made the same, so we are going to have different ways that we will want to worship or serve God in. In this way, denominations are a great thing.

I'm certainly no saint when it comes to having a good attitude toward other churches or denominations, I'm just human. But, I think it is time the church at large made a more significant effort to rebuild the unity that has broken down, so that we will be made whole vessels that God can use in mighty ways. God always works and will do great things in spite of our differences. But, imagine how many 'extra' blessings we would experience if we were united together under God's purposes! Eph. 4:1-3: Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to twalk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

That's no easy task, but with God's help(and his ridiculously large amount of grace and mercy) we can do it!

The Bible says what??

Mark 14:51-52: A young man was folowing Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and htey seized him. But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

Ok, so why in the world is this in here? I wonder if this young man was whichever of the disciples that recounted this story to John Mark! I can imagine him reflecting on that night in a solemn way, but then laughing when recalling that he ran away naked because he was only wearing a linen sheet. Must have been a warm night! I thought about expounding on a couple deep, spiritual lessons we can learn from this, but I'd rather just let it be and enjoy the mystery of why that would be there!