MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG
FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.
I invite you to pray with me, Father God hear our prayer, and we humbly cry to you as it is written in your word, Lucas 11:9:” Keep asking and it will give to you, Continue searching and you will find it, Keep knocking and it will be open for you)” We are requesting healing for our dear members of our family and also dear friends who are suffering from illnesses in their lives fighting and suffering under a lot of pain, You know them by their names; (Gaby P, Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Gloria F, Stevie A, Les N, Miguel A H, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Sergei B, Margarita G, Fega G. Manuel D, Marlen C. Rosy Ch) Also, some of them are tired of spiritual struggles, losing their faith in you, Strengthening their trust in you with a miracle in their lives, oh! Father God, hear our prayer, and we also pray for all the people around the world, especially the children who are suffering from wars, devastation, hunger, pain, hate and disbelieving in you also, bless the ones who are reading this message and their families. Heal the Land of those Countries at war; you love them so much, oh Father God, hear our prayer, we ask you in the name of Our Lord of Lords and King of Kings, your beloved son Jesus Christ. AMEN!
Years ago, the movie, ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus’ told the story of a composer who, needing an income, takes a job teaching music, supposing it will give him time to compose. One of his students is a red haired girl who, despite constant practice, plays the clarinet terribly. As Mr. Holland tries to help, he learns she is the youngest in a family where everyone excels – everyone - except her. Because she’s tried so hard and failed, she considers herself a failure.
One day she comes in and tells Mr. Holland she’s going to quit. As she walks away, Holland asks, “Is it any fun?” She answers with a shrug, “I wanted it to be.”
“You know what we’ve been doing wrong, Miss Lang? We’ve been playing the notes on the page”Confused, the girl asks, “What else is there is to play?”
“There’s a lot more to music than notes on a page. Playing music is supposed to be fun. It’s about heart. It’s about feeling and moving people and being alive. It’s not about notes on a page. I can teach you notes on a page. I can’t teach you that other stuff.”
He takes away her music and tells her to try it. She tries a time or two, each time coming to a point where she her clarinet squawks and squeaks and she starts to kick herself for her failure.
“What do you like best about yourself?” he asks. With a shy smile she says, “My hair – my dad always says it reminds him of a sunset.” “Play the sunset.”
And she closes her eyes and begins to play – really play, not just the notes, but the music. She is so amazed when she does the hard part perfectly her eyes pop open and she stops. Mr. Holland shares her amazement and says, “Don’t stop!”
And so, on she plays: eyes closed, head beginning to sway with the rhythm of it. And we know that this time, it’s fun.
Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t guilty of doing the same thing when it comes to our relationship with God - playing His symphony as if it were canned elevator music - robotic rather than majestic. But the life God calls us to is a symphony, one group of instruments layered upon another – strings carrying the melody, woodwinds adding depth, brass and percussion adding excitement and power.
In so many ways this is what the book of Ephesians teaches as Paul layers one amazing truth upon another. His sunsets. For 3 chapters, Paul shows us what we have and where we stand in Christ. Now in the remaining 3 chapters, Paul focuses on how this ‘should’ impact our lives – how we should live; BUT note, he doesn’t tell us how we are to live without first stressing why we are to live this way - that we’re immensely loved in Christ. No ‘should’s’ driven by obligation or demand but people who have seen the glory of our sunsets. Paul obliterating compulsive should’s that too easily shape our lives, replacing those with encouragements to embrace lives shaped by love.
Not some feel good, ‘hug fest’ love where faith is callous free and Christians are innocuously ‘nice’. Rather it’s faith that is compellingly virile. The type of faith that caused Abraham to trust God as he set off on an adventure, having no clue where he was going or Elijah who risked life and limb to stand before a despicably evil king or Paul who stood unyielding, in the face of Roman power.
A living faith like what is noted in Hebrews 11 of those who refuse to deny their faith, regardless of cost. It’s easy to see ourselves differently than these, because obviously they possessed greater courage, stiffer backbones, more impressive strength. But what if that isn’t the case? What if God is wanting to write His power, His story, His sunsets in us - just as He did with them? Using us as His instruments to work out His unfolding story – right here, right now - in our world? This life possible not due to our strength or personality but because we truly embrace His power and love.
Doing what we’re given in Eph 3:20,21 that God wants to do, Immeasurably more than all we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. In these verses, let’s observe a few things:
1st observe God’s reach - His continuing story of Power and glory in Christ to ALL generations forever and ever :21. God’s power not sealed between the covers of Scripture but God at work – with us in this generation. God’s chosen to show His glory in this place, at this time. God doing the exceedingly abundant beyond all we can ask or think. God stepping outside of our Bible studies that stop with a focus on what God did and instead embracing what God is now choosing to do. Laying hold of His purposes, His glory in and through us – that is abundantly beyond
– stretching us to see a God who didn’t make a drop of water, He made oceans; who didn’t create one glorious star – He created galaxies. Abundantly beyond. No limits to His love; no boundaries to His blessings; no limitations to His faithfulness. Abundantly given at the Cross AND beyond.
2nd This revelation is: According to the POWER at work within us
This tells me that as God’s child I’ve been given the indwelling spirit of Christ, His power within. That means what is His, is mine. Imagine coming upon a majestic mansion. Looking in, it’s even more amazing. Wanting to see more, you stand outside, in awe of what you see. Soon a young man approaches, his clothes torn, his face dirty, his body not visited by soap and water for far too long. Clearly he does not belong in a place like this but as he comes close, a door opens for him to go inside. By appearance, ‘Unwelcome’ but by relationship, “Welcomed home!” The one a son; the other also a son, but still thinking himself a stranger.
In Christ, a son/daughter, that the Father wants to come inside to ask for the exceedingly abundant.
The exceedingly abundant – beyond what the doctor’s diagnosis said; beyond what the marriage counsellor concluded. Beyond what the teacher wrote. Beyond what the accountant declared.
Beyond all that we can think - beyond what I can measure; beyond what I can test; beyond what I can understand – GOD is ABLE - beyond the limitation world you and I live in. Beyond – all our minds can conjure up.
Am I suggesting He’s at my beck and call, doing everything I want or bringing about the conclusions I think should be? Nope, because :21 God acts to reveal His GLORY in the church and His GLORY in Christ Jesus. His plan working through us, believers in Jesus, filled in His power to live with dynamic, boldly courageous faith. Through that, God has chosen to reveal His glory.
2:13 “in Christ, brought near by the blood of Christ” :10 His workmanship created in Christ Jesus 4:1 THEREFORE - walk in a manner worthy of your calling; reflect who you are.
On duty, in the service of another. Bearing His name, we are to walk in it. Those guarding the Tomb of Unknown Soldier understand the duty to which they are called. For 8 hours a day, they walk, the soldier not varying even a single step from their command, no matter the weather or the hour of day. It’s been that way since soldiers first stood guard. Those on duty walking 21 steps across the tomb, representing the 21 gun salute. Then the individual turns, faces the tomb, and remains motionless for 21 seconds before walking 21 steps back. Again the guard, turns, and waits - 21 seconds. Over and over, the process is repeated until their shift is completed.
The soldiers they honor are the courageous who battled the enemy at great cost so it is fitting that those on duty walk taller, straighter, and prouder. Part of the reason would be the shoes the guards wear. Though standard issue, the boots’ heels and soles are built up, to aid in the walking, turning, and the distinctive clicking of the heels.
Those who join this group, walk differently. For when you guard this place, you don't walk the same. Their walk - worthy of their calling. 4:1
Worthy of their calling as ‘sunset people’ – not people who, as they near the sunset of their lives , are just waiting for the greater than sunsets that are soon to come, but sunset people now who wear the beauty of what they see, what they live for, who they represent.
SO WHAT IS OUR WALK TO LOOK LIKE? 4:2,3
Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
That means, 1st our look is to be distinctively different, not known for the things DONE but known for the LOOK shown.
Because to God, it’s the look that is all important. He knows that if our look is wrong, wrong actions follow. Unlike the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, our walk isn’t to be ‘taller, straighter, prouder’ rather our walk is to be marked by Humility.
Talk about being out of step with our self-exalting culture that elevates the self-promoting. Not just the hyper self-elevating we see in politics or the entertainment industry but the self-elevating, self-promoting that surrounds us every day, often that which looks back at us in the mirror.
But as Paul makes clear, the authenticity and attraction of our faith is to be humility not elevation and importance. It’s upon humility the Holy Spirit will build unity. Humility like Christ, Who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:6-11.
Humility is critical to God because on the other side of humility is pride. Prov 6:16-17 tells us, God “detests pride”. In :5 we’re told, Every one proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD. Strong language, but strong because God knows where pride leads.
Look no further than Satan: Is 14:12 – 14, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! … For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’
And the central truth is this – our pride leads us away from God.
GENTLENESS
I think it safe to say most men wouldn’t be filled with joy to have it said of them that they are a gentle man. A gentleman sure, because that connotes courtesy and grace, but a gentle man? that conjures up long ago memories of Daniel Sedin being used as a speed bag for Brad Marchand’s fists. Taking punches without response. Passive, when response seems far more in order.
Gentle can also connote disengagement - not causing offence but also not doing anything of significance - armchair comfort while others act.
But the gentleness Paul is speaking of isn’t endorsement of passive non-involvement rather it is involvement in ways courageously right – confronting when confrontation is needed, intervening when things need to be made right. :15-17 tell us we are to, “Speak the truth in love” - acting in love that is intended to redeem and restore.
Paul’s point is that walking worthy is to reflect Jesus and that gentle means a willingness to yield our rights not claim them. It is strength under control. Not demanding but serving.
Listen to how Aristides, 2nd C, wrote to the Roman emperor Hadrian about believers in his day: “They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something, they give freely to the man who has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home, and are happy, as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense but brothers instead through the Spirit in God.”
Gently strong, gently engaged. Another look we are called to walk in is a people who are:
PATIENT
Fundamentally patience isn’t an action, it’s an attitude - determined by what we tell ourselves when things happen. Our natural inclination is an inward boil after we’ve been in the waiting room for 45 minutes OR outrage as we watch the lone driver in the HOV lane while everyone else waits
But replace what we see with greater truth and impatience vanishes – like the HOV driver who is moments from giving birth. Or the doctor who in the time he’s kept you waiting, he was saving a child’s life.
And the greater truth we need to remember? Patience that reminds, Who am I called to reflect? Who am I called to serve? “Walk worthy of the One you serve”. Which reminds me of the story I read of a man, who seeing the light turn yellow, stopped at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the light by accelerating through the intersection. Behind him was a furious, tailgating woman, honking her horn and screaming as her phone and makeup hit the floor. Still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up to see the face of a police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer waited with her personal effects.
"I'm sorry ma’am for the mistake. I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, cussing a blue streak and flipping off the guy in front of you. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' decal and the chrome fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally....I assumed you had stolen the car."
I say no more.
BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE
As God guides Paul to write these words, He knows there are some in the Ephesian church who are critical or difficult. He also knew that in years to come, there will be a pastor serving at Bethany who will have gaping holes in his sanctification. The sermons won’t always be stellar. His behaviour won’t always be exemplary. And yes, there’ll be times when he disappoints more than inspires.
And God was also aware that at Bethany, someone will say something that shouldn’t be said and another will do something that shouldn’t be done. And He knows there’ll be disappointments never made right and expectations that will never be met.
In short, He is aware that living with one another will bring blessing but sometimes those blessings will get buried under the weight of festering wounds and scars.
How do I know? Because God’s letter to the Ephesians was never intended to be ‘time dated’ and ‘time stamped’. It wasn’t speaking to issues that were reserved for Silvanus and Sofia rather they were written for Terry and Michelle, for Paul and Juliet, for Harvey and Helga.
For you and for me - imperfect people living in imperfect ways. People with whom we are called to bear one another in love.
As Paul encourages – bearing with one another in love, understanding that living in a family doesn’t always mean warm hugs and wide smiles.
But when wounds occur, love drives us to make things right - so resentment isn’t given time to put down roots - so a spirit of judgment and attack isn’t allowed to fester and destroy.
Forgiving as forgiven people. Called to humility, patience, gentleness and love. And the result? A people of authenticity. A people who love. A people though different are united as one family by the redeeming, forgiving, transforming blood of Christ. People who have encountered God’s GRACE. People who live according to the POWER that is within us, walking worthy of our calling.
Symphony makers. The second fiddle playing as passionately as the first chair so a watching and listening world will be drawn to a symphony that will be heard for all eternity. A symphony that is being fashioned and shaped even right now before the final concert version will be heard.
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