The Messenger 23
Introduction
We have finally come to the end of chapter one. It has been a fairly long journey, but then there was so much that needed to be explored.
Despite the length of time I have taken to get to the end of the chapter, however, I am sure that there remains much that unintentionally has been overlooked. And then there were things I probably failed adequately to explain or express. Despite these limitations on my part, I trust you have found the journey helpful, encouraging and inspiring.
Don’t be concerned if there were things you found a little difficult to understand as you were going through The Messenger. It is essential, if we are to retain a strong, vibrant faith, that we learn to launch out into the deep and not just paddle in the shallows. Grappling with these more difficult issues is important for our spiritual growth and maturity.
“There is nothing more discouraging about the modern Church, nothing more culpable than her failure to grapple with these great New Testament truths…. If we are to become grown men and women, if we are to rise to the height of our high calling in Christ Jesus, and to be virile Christians in this modern world, then we must face these great and glorious truths” (DM Lloyd-Jones).
In a world where everything seems to be changing so quickly that we can barely keep up, there are two vital constants – the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23) and the Lord Himself (Heb. 13:8). Holding fast to those two constants provides us with a sense of stability and dependability in our changing world. It helps us differentiate between what is good and what is not, what is helpful and what is destructive, what is temporal and what is eternal, what glorifies God and what does not.
Final two verses
As we prepare to conclude our reflections on chapter one we turn now to the final two verses of the chapter.
“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be the head of everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
You will recall from our previous reflection that Paul is drawing his readers’ attention to the greatness of the power God has for the believer. Paul does this by likening that power to the power involved in the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. What we are being given in Paul’s prayer is not only a sense of the greatness of that power towards us, but some invaluable insights into the person of Jesus.
He who died on the cross is raised from the dead; He who had laid aside His glory for our sake is now seated at the Father’s right hand and is appointed head over all things.
Paul’s revelation of Jesus in these last two verses of the chapter is fascinating. Whatever views people may have held of Jesus while He was on earth as the Suffering Servant, His true nature and identity is now revealed (cf. Col. 1:15-20). In this day and age of smart bombs, nuclear weapons and chemical warfare, of economic collapses, civil unrest and catastrophic natural disasters, we surely need a revelation of Jesus that goes beyond ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild.’
I see TWO things that call for our attention in those last two verses. Unfortunately we only have time to touch briefly on them.
Firstly, Jesus has been appointed as the ‘universal and supreme Head of the Church’ (Amplified Bible).
When we look at the Church in the world it can be so difficult to imagine sometimes that Jesus is its head. We see her many spots and wrinkles. We hear a myriad of conflicting voices all claiming to proclaim the truth. We find ourselves troubled by examples of her frequent complicity in social and moral wrongs. We grow impatient at her lack of ability to be a united, prophetic voice in our troubled world. We are alarmed at how bureaucracy and tradition so often stifle the still, small voice of the Spirit.
Without a revelation of Jesus’ headship clearly before us, we seem to be left with only one of two options: we either live with denial and carry on as though nothing were wrong, or we simply withdraw from the Church in disillusionment.
But if we can grasp the revelation in those last two verses; if we have a broad overview of the past, the present and the future of God’s eternal plan for us, His world and His Church – then neither of those two responses can be correct.
We cannot deny those things that are wrong. We don’t pretend things are right when they are not. But we believe God is working out His divine purpose in the world, in us and in the Church despite all the apparent evidence to the contrary. In the fullness of time every eye will see. And in that day “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess (willingly or unwillingly) that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).
I just wonder sometimes what would happen if we had the courage truly to acknowledge the headship of Jesus in our local churches. What would change, and, more importantly, what would change for the better? I suspect a lot.
The second part of Paul’s statement in those final two verses of chapter one are a little more complicated. What I understand as I read them, and seeing it, as Paul reminds his readers in Corinthians, ‘through a glass darkly’ (1 Cor 13;12), is this:
The authority, glory and presence of Jesus fills the Church which is His body, and that authority, glory and presence extends to the outermost reaches of the cosmos. There is nowhere where it does not reach nor is there anywhere where He is not to be found (Ps 139:7-13). And if that is so what can ever separate us from the love of God. Nothing! Nothing at all! (cf. Rom 8:38-39).
Before we prepare to look at chapter two of Ephesians, let me conclude this section with these words: if you are struggling in your faith stop looking for God. He has never been lost. It is we who are lost and who need to be found. How encouraging to know that the Lord of Glory, the Lord of the universe is still the “good Shepherd who comes to seek and save the lost.” Listen! His voice is echoing down the ages – “O Man, where are you?”
“Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to
be written for our learning, grant that we may
in such wise hear them read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest them, that by patience and comfort of
thy Holy Word we may embrace, and ever hold fast,
the blessed hope of everlasting life, which
thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
John Wesley