A First Century Preacher

Ephesians 4:1-6

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to 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.  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.

What are the most important things in the Bible?  What should pastors and teachers and church leaders emphasize when they are instructing others in the church?  Each church answers this question differently.  And sometimes, many of the disagreements between churches can be reduced to difference of emphasis rather than disagreement in doctrine.  This is not always the case, and substantial disagreement in important doctrine should not be minimized.  Whatever the case, different churches and different denominations choose different things to emphasize and to focus on as the most important things in the faith.  And when these things come under attack from other churches and other denominations, major conflict within the wider church can result.

Now what if we took that same question, and asked it of the Scriptures?  How do we find out what the Holy Spirit thinks to be the most important things that we should emphasize?  One way is to pay attention to the themes which recur again and again throughout the Scriptures.  If something is repeated often, then it is safe to say that it is something we should repeat often.  If the Bible emphasizes something, then we should emphasize it as well. 

If you read all of Paul’s epistles in a week, you would notice several themes begin to emerge.  One theme in particular is especially evident in Paul’s passages on practical instruction.  Paul comes back again and again to something which he desires to be true of the churches that he has founded and the churches that he exercises apostolic authority over, and the Holy Spirit desires this to be true of all churches across the ages.  The church of Jesus Christ should, above all, be characterized by love and unity.  Some have argued that love and unity in the church is the theme of both the epistle to the Ephesians and the epistle to the Romans.  It shows up prominently in the second half of both of these letters, where Paul is applying his doctrinal teaching to the practical life of the church.  A church body which is unified in love is an ideal of Paul’s which comes up throughout the rest of his letters, including Philippians (remember 2:1-11?), Colossians (especially chapter 3), and the Corinthian correspondence.   

This message has just as much relevance in the church today as it did in the first century when Christianity was just beginning.  If anyone has been in the church for an extended period of time, it is likely that they will realize that the church walls do not safeguard you from unkindness, inconsiderateness, and even flat out hatred.  When people experience this for the first time, they often go through some kind of inner crisis as their expectations are shocked out of existence.  They are sensing the inherent contradiction that exists in every church, and that is followers of Jesus failing to live up to their Master.  As long as we are on this side of Paradise, you will find this within the walls of every church.  And you will find it within the walls of every individual heart.  But when you experience it for the first time, it can be somewhat paralyzing and traumatizing. 

What helps is reading the Bible, and realizing that Christians failing to live like Christ is not anything new.  It has been happening since Jesus called the twelve, and it persisted throughout those early years when Christ began building his church through his apostles and prophets.  People are people, whether in the first century or in the twenty-first century. 

So what if we did take this seriously?  What if churches made it one of their chief aims to actually “be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”?  What does this mean in a church which is divided denominationally?  How can the church pursue love and unity without compromising doctrine?  These are important questions, and they must not be avoided.  The church needs to wrestle with Ephesians 4:1-6 and with this very important theme, and it needs to discover how to live this first century teaching in the twenty-first century church. 

Does Salvation Have an End?

The word “end” can be used in a number of ways.  It can used to mean “the termination of a matter,” or it could mean something like “the final part.”  But it could also mean “goal or purpose.”  For example, when we say that “the end justifies the means,” we are using “end” in the sense of the goal or the purpose behind an action.

So while salvation will never terminate (nothing will separate us…Romans 8:39), salvation does have a goal, an intended purpose, a telos.  If you read the book of Colossians carefully, it becomes clear that God had an end in mind when he saved us.  When we lose sight of this end, then we can lose focus in our Christian life.

So what is the end of salvation?  What does God save us for?  The answer is twofold.  I will examine the first one in this post, and the second one tomorrow.  God saves us, first of all, in order to reclaim and restore his entire creation.  There is an integral connection between the redemption of our souls and the redemption of the entire created order.  Colossians 1:19-22 puts our salvation in the context of God’s greater cosmic action:

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…

God saves us so that we can escape the eternal pain of hell and enjoy the eternal happiness of his presence.  But more importantly, he saves us because he is on a mission to take the tragedy of a fallen world and turn it into a divine comedy of a renewed cosmos.  We look forward to the ultimate unveiling of the new heaven and the new earth, but when we experience salvation, we get a foretaste of that new creation in our souls.  And the longer we live in faith, the more the gospel takes root in our heart.  As this happens, we experience more of this new creation in our hearts, in our relationships, in our families, and in our societies.

When Christ returns in power from his current place at the right hand of the Father, he  will powerfully punctuate the work which he began at the cross and which he presently continues in his church by his Spirit.  And as we look forward to this wonderful climax, we earnestly pray that our lives now would approximate as much as possible what our lives will be in the new Jerusalem some day.

What is the end of salvation?  The end is new creation, the defeat of death and evil, the victory of God.  This is the hope that keeps us going in a world full of disappointment, disillusionment, and difficulty.  And sometimes, by the grace of God, we get a glimpse of that final victory here and now.  Sometimes our Father’s good and perfect will is done on earth as it is in heaven.