Ephesians
3:10 -12 and 16 – 21 NIVUK
So that through the church the manifold wisdom
of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in
Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence
through our faith in him…………… 16 that according to the riches of his glory he
may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner
being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may
have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length
and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him
who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according
to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ
Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen
I
grew up in the South Wales Valleys, were the common themes for many were
Chapel, Rugby and the Colliery, the threads that would often hold those
communities together would be those mentioned above, the hymns of the Chapel
such as Guide me, O Though Great Jehovah would be sung with at least equal
gusto on a Saturday Afternoon watching the Rugby.
In
many ways, our lives would have been influenced and affected by the strong
religious traditions of something best described as chapel culture, when we
spoke of the church, we would often have of thought of the Anglican Church with
their vicars etc., to many people from a chapel background the church was a
strange place that could be described it’s church, but not as we know it!.
The
traditions of Chapel Culture would be at least influenced by protecting and
promoting Welsh Language and Culture, and to distinguish it against the English
Language and Culture. I would say that in the Village where the Church I was
raised in, half the Chapels would speak Welsh in all their services. I love
Wales, its Language, Culture and its People but there aren’t The Lord who died
for my sins and the sins of the entire World, and rose again in Victory and is
coming back for us when He comes to reign and rule and establish His Kingdom in
its full splendour and glory.
We
have made idols of so many things in the Church, whether that be our
traditions, heritage and our national or cultural identities, our churches have
become monuments to past moves of God, or to the men who God raised up to move
his Church forward. The Church has become
known to what we’re against rather than what we for, we fight battles and wars
with society rather than supporting and encouraging society, yes there are
anti-Christian influences and challenges facing us today, with the prospect of
Gay Marriage and the attempts of our politicians to force change in the legal
definition of marriage.
When
people think of Church they think of a dying religion and something that is
part of the establishment. We should stand against the enemy, the devil but our
weapons aren’t the weapons or the strategies of the world, see 2 Corinthians
10:3-5 .We try to convict the people we meet whose lives aren’t in accordance
with scripture of their sin but we aren’t the Holy Spirit who convicts the
world of sin and shows them God’s righteousness see John 16:-8-11 instead we’ve
alienated those He sent us to show His Love and Compassion to.
When
Jesus walked the streets of the lands of Bible Times, he wasn’t part of the establishment, whether
than was the political or the religious establishment, Jesus is God’s ultimate
revolutionary, he isn’t some kind of Jewish Che Guevara, he was and is the Son
of God, who came as baby, lived a normal
life, then for the last 3 years of his life, bought God’s message of
transformation, hope, redemption, salvation, deliverance and peace to those he
meet regardless of their sexuality, disability, cultural or ethnic background, he
raised up normal men and women, that were often the lowest and sometimes the
most despised people in society, like his ancestor King David, who’s mighty men
came from those in debt, distress or the discontented, see 2 Samuel 22:3, he
died an agonising death on the cross, of all the tens of thousands than were
crucified by the Roman and other empires, only one death made a difference,
Jesus took the entire sin of the entire world from that day until he day He
returns, and died as the sacrifice for not only the sins of the church, but the
sins of those yet to know Him. He arose Victorious from the tomb, and entered
Heaven after preparing His early disciples and sending the Holy Spirit see John
20 so that His Church may go forward and see people saved, lives transformed,
hope restored and renewed and salvation bought to the ends of the earth.
Today,
we the Church like David’s Mighty Men and the early Disciples are God’s Mighty
Men and Women of Faith, who have been tasked by our Saviour and Lord to advance
His Kingdom and His Church into our streets, neighbourhoods, communities,
regions, nations and the nations of the world.
When
God commissioned the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8 see here for context. Isaiah
6:8-9 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who
will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say
to this people:
Throughout
the History of the Church, God has called and commissioned Ordinary People just
like You and Me, he’s not called the
seemingly best equipped or seemingly the most talented or indeed the best
gifted, when God sent the Prophet Samuel to anoint Israel’s next King he sent
him to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem, and when he looked at Jesse’s Sons he
saw some great and talented warriors but they weren’t God’s choice see 1 Samuel 16:5-13, God is calling the Ordinary
People to rise up for Him see 1 Corinthians 26-29 but let us not be like the Prophet
Jonah, who when God called him to Nineveh went in the opposite direction!
Today
God is calling again Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us, will we say Here am I send Me, and will we ready to Go
to those who sends us and where He sends us ?
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