Built on One Firm Foundation, part 2 (Ephesians 2:19-22)

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19–22, NASB95)

After walking away from these verses in the last post I began to think about how we as Christians deal with conflicting understandings of what God’s Word says in some areas, and where lines might be drawn and conflict might occur in our walking with others in the body of Christ who might not understand some things as we do. One significant area of difference in this regard is over the issue of the continuance of sign gifts and particularly over tongues and ecstatic prayer.

Thinking about this my mind was drawn back to a question I had to answer nearly forty years ago when I attending a church in which strong warnings were bring given from the pulpit about associating with “charismatic” Christians. As I sat under the teaching I became increasingly uncomfortable not with the theological understanding on the issue because I actually agreed with it, but with the position taken urging us not to associate with others who understood this issue differently. I had to ask myself if these others truly were Christians, and if they were, was the priority of oneness of Spirit somehow greater than our inability to come to agreeable terms in our understanding of what God’s Word had to say. The conclusion I came to is that they did indeed come to Christ in the same way as I, and I would have to trust God with sorting this out. While I may not attend the same church with these believers, and I may not agree with them on this biblical issue for what I believe are sound scriptural reasons, I did have to acknowledge that they were my brothers and sisters in Christ united into one body (the church) by the Spirit given us both.

Over the years I came to realize that there are other such areas of unmatched understanding such as whether or not there will be a rapture of the church and what to expect concerning the end times. I use the term unmatched because I believe with all of my heart that God’s Word is complete as He intended it and sufficient for our instruction in Him. But as we look at it and study it we, in our humanness, somehow come to places where to do not match in our understanding of what God intends. My response to this, though, is not to throw up my arms and give up, but to go back to His Word, continue to study it, hide it in my heart, and to ask the Spirit to give me a proper understanding so that I might handle it properly and respond with godly integrity.

Up to now we have dealt with those who believe the same gospel and are united in the belief that the Father sent His Son to die for our sins, to be buried, and rise again on the third day as our only means of salvation such that there is salvation in no one else. This is the foundation in which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, and upon that foundation there are also other non-negotiables learned from Scripture which form a basis for doctrinal agreement, even leaving room for grace in others where there might be disagreement.

But the other part of this reality is that there are teachings that are clearly in conflict with Scripture and some which even point to a Christ different than Him who is shown to us in God’s inspired and inerrant Word. The apostle Paul warned the Corinthian believers of this, writing, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” [or, “you put up with it readily enough”, ESV] (2 Corinthians 11:2–4, NASB95) Paul was concerned that these believers would become enamored by people with flash and influence that might come along and preach a different gospel, being led by a different spirit (opposed to the Spirit of God), and preaching a different gospel than that of salvation by faith in Christ alone.

In Acts he warned the elders of Ephesus, as we have looked at previously, to be on guard against these “savage wolves” that would attempt to come in and destroy the flock. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:28–32, NASB95) His answer for these elders was to entrust them to God while encouraging them to look to God and urging them to hold to His Word.

Paul clearly taught us that there is only one foundation which is Christ, and he warned us against anyone attempting to lay a different foundation or build a different building. “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:9–12, NASB95)

Studying the Word of God is critical to understanding what God has said to us, and the truth of God’s Word is never to be sacrificed on the altar of tolerance. But as we walk with each other in grace we also need to be careful how we treat those with whom God has made us one. Jesus came in the fullness of truth and grace and we are to walk in the same way with one another as we encourage each other to grow in our proper knowledge and understanding of His Word. 

Built on One Firm Foundation (Ephesians 2:19-22)

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19–22, NASB95)

There are so many Christians out there who feel as if they are outsiders; not fully accepted or embraced by the church or by God. And while some of these feelings may have good cause based upon how those in the church respond to or treat others in the church or those around the church, the truth is that all who believe are placed together into this one body by our one Lord, Jesus Christ.

I love the reality that I experience when I meet a believer that I had not previously known, finding that I instantly share a oneness that can’t otherwise be explained as we talk together about what Christ has done in us. He or she may attend a different church in a different city and maybe even sing different songs with different musical accompaniment, but beneath all of this is the certain reality that we have been knit together not by these minor distinctives but by the great reality of what God has done in us. When as before I did not know them, now I know them as brothers and sisters along with all of my other brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

Jesus went to the cross to pay the penalty for all of our sins, and in Him we are all forgiven and given new life. In Him we are all knit together as one body—the church of which He is the head. And in every single one of us is the Spirit who binds us together in this incredibly special and unique way. Jesus Christ laid the cornerstone for this building and now it cannot be shaken. It is permanent and securely established for eternity. In doing this God chose both the prophets who came before and the apostles chosen by Christ to make this known to us as they were moved by the Spirit to make speak from God as we read in 1 Peter, “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:21, NASB95)

These men were given by God to lay the foundation from which we know who He is and what He has done. These men laid the foundation for our faith, and it is incumbent on us to study the Word of God given through them to learn both more of our God and His great love and how we are to respond in faithful worship and service before Him.

In these verses we see the intentional word “built” used repeatedly. God has a plan and He is following that plan according to His perfect will. Abraham had this understanding even as he left the home of his parents for a home where he lived in tents with and through his descendants looking forward to a permanent home promised Him by God. In Hebrews 11 we read, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8–10, NASB95)

He knew there was to be a city with real foundations that was going to be designed and built by God. He lived with this promise and hope. We, as the church, are a part of that promise being fulfilled. We may not be a building in the sense of the new Jerusalem that is yet to come, but we are the building of God which gathers today in many different tents (churches) to worship and follow after Him with that same assurance, knit together by Spirit. The huge difference is that we live on this side of the cross. We live knowing that Christ has come and that the chief cornerstone of that building has been laid. We live having the words of the apostles and the prophets having laid the foundation on which we are being built up. And we all live with the certain hope of one day joining together with all of the saints together with our Lord for all eternity in the building set eternal in the heavens that was not build with human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).

In the meantime God has chosen the Spirit to dwell in us as His body—the church. We are the Christ that the world sees. We are His physical presence in the world as cracked as we are, and even in those cracks there is great opportunity for the light of Christ to shine through. We are to walk with each other with the unified continual call from God to daily submit ourselves to Him as we build up and encourage one another—loving each other as Christ loved us and doing all to preserve the unity in which we have been brought together.

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk 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.” (Ephesians 4:1–3, NASB95) 

One Spirit—One Access (Ephesians 2:18)

“for through Him [Christ] we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18, NASB95)

In these two verses we have the Trinity—God who is one present in three—Father, Son, and Spirit, and our salvation is brought about by all three working in perfect cooperation. We are saved by the will of the Father through the work of the Son and the enabling of the Spirit, and as His beloved children this is how we are to live regardless of our religious or irreligious background. Not one of us was saved by our idea of God or our works proving ourselves before Him. Not one of us came to the Father but through the Jesus’ shed blood for us and the work of the Spirit to open our eyes to see and know and believe.

The Jews may have been a chosen people though whom God was to bring salvation to all mankind, but salvation was not brought by them but by the Son of God born a Jew.  Prior to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection the Spirit was present and working. The Spirit was present with God from before creation—eternal as God. But after the resurrection the Spirit came in a new way—a way which meant that all who believed would be drawn by the Spirit and permanently indwelt and sealed by the Spirit. This included all of those Jews who believed such as the apostles and those who comprised the early church. And it included all of the Gentiles who would come to believe based upon the word of salvation in Christ being spread to them.  There truly is only one way and only one Spirit.

Having come to faith by the same Spirit we also are called to live as one in that Spirit who gives us all equal access to the Father. In Galatians Paul wrote, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:27–29, NASB95) And later in Ephesians we read, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4–6, NASB95)

There is not a single believer who is a second class child with God. Not one of us is His backup choice. But all of us were chosen by Him according to His plan from before the foundation of the earth. Think of it, we were all uniquely and individually made by God and chosen by Him. “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” (Psalm 139:13–16, NASB95)

Jesus told His disciples that their being His was not of their own doing. He chose them and in that choice they were assured that God would hear and answer them. They were assured of their access to the Father as we read in John chapter 15. “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15:16, NASB95) They may have had a special personal relationship with Jesus, but the truth for all of us is the same—God chose us, and He gave us access to Him. Knowing this we are assured that He indeed will hear, answer, and work in us to do that for which we were called.

When I think about how God orchestrates our oneness in Him and how He has drawn us to Him for His perfect purpose I can’t help but think of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 where we read, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:4–7, NASB95) ... “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:11–13, NASB95)

I love these words of Ephesians and throughout Scripture where we read of how God has called us as His children and how He works in His fullness to bring about not only our salvation but the oneness of the body for the building up on one another and as His light to the world who is spiritually darkened as we once were. We have been made alive, united as one, and indwelt by the Spirit of God giving us all access to the Father. And all of this is because He loved us and He brought it to pass through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. There truly is only one Lord, one Spirit, and one God who works all things in all people. 

Peace Near and Far (Ephesians 2:17)

“And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near….” (Ephesians 2:17, NASB95)

In our world right now both Israel as a nation and Christians as a people are under attack. There is a great threat from evil pressing in on both, and we could easily become overwhelmed by how ominous things look. But our God is in control. He has set the limit to evil. He calls people to Himself and makes them to be at peace with Him so that we can live at peace in our world. This does not mean that things will be peaceful, but that we can have the peace of God even in turmoil. We also can look to how the world is tightening around the neck of Israel and trying to strangle it. Similarly we know from God’s word that He will not abandon His people. They will have to endure a great amount of suffering, but we also know that in God’s perfect timing His Son will return and His people who were near will be restored.

Looking back to the introduction of Isaiah in the ESV Bible we read, “Isaiah lived during the decline of Israel in the shadow of Assyria. He spoke the word of God to a people who were “deaf and blind” (see 6:10), who refused to listen to his warnings of looming disaster. He warned that the sin of the people of Judah would bring God’s judgment, yet he also declared that God is sovereign and would use Cyrus the Persian to return them from exile. The book speaks of a “servant,” a “man of sorrows,” who would be “pierced for our transgressions,” accomplishing God’s purposes of salvation (52:13–53:12). The final chapters give a beautiful description of a new creation in which God will rule as King, judging the wicked and establishing eternal peace. Isaiah prophesied about 740–700 B.C. (possibly till the 680s).

It is from one of these later chapters that Paul quotes in Ephesians 2:17, “And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near….”

“And it will be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.” For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before Me, and the breath of those whom I have made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, and he went on turning away, in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”” (Isaiah 57:14–19, NASB95)

In the midst of prevailing evil and people at the highest levels in Israel turning their backs on God and following after their own desires, God spoke through Isaiah of a time when God would bring their rebellion to an end. God, who dwells in His high and holy place, also dwells with those who hearts are directed toward Him. He said that He was going to move to revive their spirits and their hearts and even renew the breath of those who He made. Through man’s sin man became spiritually dead, but God determined that He was not going to leave man that way. He was going to restore Him to life. Though the nation was in rebellion God continued to work in the hearts of His people, and through men like Isaiah He spoke of a time when this greater restoration and drawing back would come for all. For Israel as a nation this will fully and finally happen at the end of the Great Tribulation and His millennial rule, but even before then there would be people whose hearts and spirits were softened toward God who would believe and be saved.

Of course the Jews were not the only people inhabiting earth and who lived in rebellion against God. There were many who did not know God and who were not taught His statues and ordinances. And while they were also of the seed of Adam and Eve, they were not of people of the promise given to Abraham. They were not descendants of Isaac and Jacob. They were not of the people who God freed from slavery in Egypt, given the law through Moses, and brought into the promised land. These people did not know God. They followed after other gods and they did what was pleasing to them. They were far away.

But Isaiah recorded the words of God, saying that He was going to bring peace to both groups. Both groups were dead in their sins and enemies of God. Both groups were in need of God drawing them back to Him and settling the issue of their sin. God’s wrath had to be satisfied for both groups. Whether they were raised knowing of God or not didn’t change the fact that every man needed to be restored. And God was going to accomplish this for them. As such, neither had any room for boasting because neither did anything to deserve and cause God’s mercy or His forgiveness.

Paul wrote, “And He came and preached peace…” Jesus, on the night He was betrayed spoke to His disciples about His leaving and what would happen when they were left behind. In John 14:26 He said that after He left that the Father would send the Spirit. Then He went on to say, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27, NASB95) Then in chapter 16 we read, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NASB95) Not only was their sin account going to be settled at the cross by the blood of Jesus, but Jesus was also going to give them a peace that they could live with in His absence and in the face of all of the trials that they would encounter. God’s Spirit would seal and protect them, working to comfort and encourage, assuring them of His continued presence. As they faced persecution and even death they could do so because Jesus had really given them His peace. And this same peace is given to us, whether we came to His as a Jew or a Gentile (non-Jew); whether we knew of Him before or not. And through the gift of salvation all of us who were once far from Him in our sins have been brought near to Him in peace.

United as One Body (Ephesians 2:14-16)

“For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” (Ephesians 2:14–16, NASB95)

In the early days of the church there was regular division between the Jews and the growing number of  Gentile believers, and there was question as to how they should be treated. Some would have required that they become circumcised and adopt the religious practice of the Jews. Others would keep them at a distance and not fellowship and/or eat together. As all of this mystery of God unfolded there were many who struggled with how to respond. Among them were the apostles chosen by Christ. Acts records for us some of these tensions, especially as they responded to the Jewish Pharisee Saul who had gone from being a persecutor of the Jewish believers (followers of the Way) to becoming a follower of Christ. There were years of mistrust and alienation, but God continued to work, and we have some of this work recorded for us in the Bible. This included the decision of the apostles that while many Jewish believers were to continue their traditions and instructions as a people from God, the Gentile ones were set free to worship without their observance.

What knit them together was the truth that whether Jew or Gentile there was only one way to be saved, and that was by belief in the Son of God sent by the Father to die for their sins, to be buried, and to rise again on the third day. Every single one of these believers was sealed by the same Spirit into one body and brought together as one church. While they may not have practiced this perfectly or understood it clearly, positionally this is who they were—the body of Christ. And just as Saul (now Paul) had spoken before the Jewish believing leadership (Council) of this, he also wrote of this the Gentiles. Every single one of them, and us, were enemies of God set apart because of our sin and rebellion. But Jesus settled this. He made us to be at peace with God by becoming our perfect sacrifice. The demand of God for justice for sin was settled by God as our sin was taken upon His Son. The Father’s wrath was settled by the act of the Son to make us perfectly righteous with His righteousness and to remove the barrier that had existed. We were made to be at peace with God because Jesus is our peace.

And in being our peace; the peace of all who believe and are saved; we are called to live at peace with one another. There is to be no cancer in the body that ravages the body. We are to be wholly unified in Christ. This is who we are, and this is how we are called to live with one another. The dividing line of the Jews who lived under the commandments of God and the Gentiles who lived separate from the Law were was done away with and they were brought together as one in Christ. The division that existed was eliminated in Him. Yet, in practice they needed to be taught this truth and encouraged to live accordingly. This was to be a case of the Word of God shaping the response of man. As believers came to know the truth, the truth changed how they lived. And the truth declared that they were not to live as two, but as one knit together in Christ. Sure, they may have some religious practice differences, but those practices were not to serve as points of division.

Even today we can learn a lot from this instruction of Paul as we consider how we walk with one another. Our culture accuses Christians of being narrow minded and intolerant, and in many ways that can and should be very true. When it comes to salvation in Christ and Christ alone as the Son of God sent by the Father to bring salvation to man through His death, burial, and resurrection we are to be unbending. In this we stand with the inerrant Word of God (Scripture, the Bible) and declare that He is the way, the truth, and the life and that no man comes to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). This is the heart of the gospel and there is no other way to be saved. From there we are to rightly handle God’s truth and let it shape our lives both corporately and individually as we hide His inerrant Word in our hearts, rely on it to direct our steps, and seek to walk with one another in His abundant grace—all with the power that He supplies.

I am reminded of Jesus’ prayer to the Father just before entering the garden to be betrayed. He prayed, “…Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:17–23, NASB95)

The world would say that there are many truths, but Jesus prayed that we would be one in the truth which is Him declared through His Word. He prayed that we would live as one people united and sanctified in God’s truth according to His great love.

“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:14–18, NASB95) 

Called Near and Far (Ephesians 2:11-13)

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:11–13, NASB95)

Paul is writing to a largely Gentile (or non-Jewish) audience. Ephesus, though it had some Jews who had fled there in the face of persecution and possibly for commerce, was a non-Jewish area and the church was made up of those people who reflected the area. These were the ones who were separated from and frequently looked down upon by the Jews (the “Circumcision”) because of their not being Jews (“Uncircumcision”). This distinction of circumcision goes back to a commandment given to Abraham by God after God made him a covenant or promise. This covenant is recorded for us in Genesis 17:1-8 where we read, “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. “I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”” (Genesis 17:1–8, NASB95)

But God also told Abraham that the people needed to respond in keeping that covenant. We go on to read that they were to be marked as children of the covenant by all male children being circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. “God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”” (Genesis 17:9–14, NASB95) And this became the way of the Jews. They were a special people; chosen and set apart by God. They became the people of the “Circumcision.” And by the time of Christ, those who were not of the circumcision were largely thought to be outside God’s plan even though God had told Abram that he would become the father of many nations.

It was to these non-Jews that Paul wrote and told them that what made them different was not something that man did to mark his body, but something that Christ did to mark them for eternity. At one time they did not know the God of Abraham. They had no interest in Him, nor did they have any expectation of receiving anything from Him. They were outsiders who had no hope, being alienated and without God.

BUT….

He went on to say, “But now in Christ….” These believers who lived apart from Israel, apart from the God of Israel, and apart from the promise to Israel were still people loved by God. When God made man and placed him in the garden there was no need for the covenant. Man was created to have a regular, intimate relationship with Him. But man sinned and became spiritually dead and separated from God. A chasm was created and God put man out of the garden. Then as Scripture goes on to record, there were those who God found faithful, but for the most part man continued to be exceedingly evil.

In putting man out of the garden God did not do so without also making the promise that He would step in to intervene and conquer the evil that had come between them. His process for doing this was by choosing Abram (Abraham) through whom a people would be born who would be shown His mercy and through whom God would eventually even bring to them a Savior. Yet, it was this very Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord that they rejected and had crucified, only to rise again on the third day. It was this Savior who was sent not only to bring salvation to the Jews who believed, but to all of mankind of whom these Gentiles in Ephesus were a part.

The Father’s plan was reveled in the Son that through Him, the Son, that all men will be saved; that God’s salvation would spread to all of the nations, resulting in those who had once been far off being brought close. The Gentiles didn’t do anything special to deserve God diverting His attention to them, just as the Jews did nothing special to receive God’s promise in the first place. All of these decisions were ones made by God according to His own counsel. And as a result, every one of them who believed did so because they were the elect of God, chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Even today, those of us who have been saved by faith have been saved because God chose us and gave us salvation in His Son. We have been brought close to God and enabled to have a relationship with Him because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ who cleanses us from all unrighteousness and His resurrection which gives to us new life. There is not room to think of any of us being more favored, but rather to equally respond to our God with extreme thankfulness as we realize that He is not done and we have no idea who is yet to be drawn near and be saved.

“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:39, NASB95) 

Made to do Good (Ephesians 2:10)

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NASB95)

Years ago on a visit to my parent’s I noticed that their whirligigs were falling apart in the weather (those things in the yard that spin their wings or propellers in the wind). So, I took some of them home with men and repaired them. In the process I decided that these were kind of neat, and I wanted to try my hand a making some. But rather than doing what someone else had already done, I decided to play with them and design my own. I also love birds, and I took my love for birds and the desire to make these whirligigs and bring them together. Now, I call it my therapy as I look to these birds, draw them out on paper, transfer the drawing to a hard surface for a pattern, go out into my garage and cut them out, round the edges, sand them, and prepare them for painting. It is here that they go from an idea to a shaped piece of wood. But there is still nothing really to distinguish what they are or what they will be useful for. It is not until I apply the paint that their identity is known and when I apply the wings that their purpose is prepared. Over the years I have continually added new ones and have tweaked them time after time to improve them. But my greatest joy has been being able to make them and put them into the hands of another to enjoy. It is here that they see them work, but rarely with any idea of what went into the process of bringing them there.

In verse 10 of Ephesians we read that we are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Think about it. We were created by God for good works. This in itself is an amazing thing that our God would have chosen us from before the foundation of the world apart from anything that we would ever do. He made us and He chose us. But He also did this with a result in mind that we would in turn return His affection in faithful service to Him in order to accomplish good works. Left to itself this truth could easily be taken to the point that we then, after having been saved by Christ, are released to go out and come up with what we can do in response. This could easily lead to our running around trying to show our thankfulness by again trying to gain His pleasure in our performance.

But the truth of the matter is very simple. We were not saved because He was pleased with us, and neither can we afterward improve on His choice. Sure, we were chosen before we were born and this includes not only our salvation but how we would serve afterward. This is what Paul goes on to say, we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Wow. God has a plan for my life. What an amazing realization. The things that He had laid out for me to do, just like my salvation, were laid out in advance. He picked the spiritual suit I am to wear and He laid it out for me such that it would fit. He made me for these things.

As I was thinking about this my mind was drawn to another passage of Scripture in 2 Timothy, where in the English Standard Version (ESV) we read, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV) God gives us what we need to be equipped for what He set apart for us to do, and backing up we see that a primary way of discovering His equipping and His direction is by spending time in His Word. He gave it to us. The Spirit moved in the hearts of men to write His Word so that we would have it, and then it was preserved so that we might not only learn it though teaching, but that we would be shown where we are off track, how to then get on track, and then to stay that way. God’s Word is given to direct our steps so that we might be trained in righteousness resulting in being equipped for His service.

It is from God’s Word that we learn that which is good and acceptable and perfect. In the last post I quoted Romans 12:1 in the context of works being our response to what God has done for us. Continuing in verse 2 we read, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, NASB95) There was a way we used to do things and there is a way that the world does things. That way is founded in our own imaginings based upon our own understanding of things. Here we read that we are to stop thinking that way, and we are to have our minds transformed by the Spirit and the Word such that we think and act differently. In this we evidence God’s will in our lives so that we do that which He has declared good and acceptable and perfect. In Proverbs 3:5-6 we read that this is accomplished not by leaning on our own understanding, but by trusting in Him and looking to Him in all things. It is in doing this that we know He will set our path straight. This includes the little things and the big things. It includes those things which are seemingly easy for us to do and those which prove more challenging. It includes those things which line up with our desires and those in which we have to stop and purpose to realign our desires with those of God. It also includes those times when we have to wait for Him to show the way and those situations which we so desperately want to avoid.

There are so many opportunities before us every day, and God has given us the great privilege of being His ambassadors of grace and truth in a world where evil and uncertainty are so prevalent. What He calls us to do is to trust Him in those things He has set before us as we seek His will and follow His lead in doing that which brings glory to His name.