Missions Paul

After 3 chapters of explaining who we are because of what God has done Paul takes us into the second half of his letter.

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1)

Whatever the circumstance of your life it is never a waste of time. When your cause is to proclaim Christ and when your mission in life is to love God and love others then you never get to the place of thinking ‘it doesn’t matter anymore.’

This is the second time (see 3:1) that Paul realises that there is no place he can go where God isn’t. I am a prisoner for the Lord.

Don’t limit God’s presence to ‘sacred’ spaces.

My heart has been in Africa for 20 years and I am blessed to have friends there. There have been many times when I thought I was entering a non-sacred place only to discover I was about to discover something beautiful of the Lord’s presence. I found Him with the amputees of Sierra Leone; the persecuted of northern Nigeria and Burkina Faso; the raped of DRC; the prisons of Niger; the HIV stories of Eswatini; the famine of many nations; the slums of Kenya; the graves of Zimbabwe; the orphans of Malawi; the list just goes on.

Prisons.

I love the ESV of this verse. It uses the word ‘walk’ which moves me more than the word ‘live’ of the NIV.

The friends of Africa have learnt to walk it out.

And you, in your ‘prison’, in your sadness, illness, disappointment, loneliness, every family has a skeleton, must learn to walk out the Christian life. Paul will lead on what those next steps of walking involve. But for now meditate for a moment on how you must walk in the dirt of life.

What does that mean for you?

Paul was walking it out in prison? Where do you have to walk it out?

We have been locked down with the covid-19 crisis and learnt how to walk it out as Churches. Coming out of lockdown many of us will still find that containment exists in some area of our lives. Life is dirty at times.

The prison can stop you temporarily but you are the only one who can do it permanently.

Walk it out.

Mother Theresa once wanted to build an orphanage, but she had only three shillings, and someone jeeringly said to her, “What can you do to build an orphanage with only three shillings?”
“Theresa with three shillings,” was the answer, “can do nothing, but with three shillings and with God to help her there is nothing that Theresa cannot do!”

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, ²¹ Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-22 (KJV)

I have preached these verses for many years and yet until this morning I have never spoken of them in their rightful context. I have used stories like that of Mother Theresa to inspire others to realise God can make their lives so much better.

I have read of these verses being used for some ‘name it claim it’ mantra. I have heard that God can do more physical healings than we can ever imagine and that He can give us more physical riches than we could ever ask for. Of course He can. But that is not the context of these words. This beautiful doxology of Paul’s prayer ends 3 chapters of revelation. If we want to embrace these 2 verses then we must also embrace the truth of the 3 chapters.

Let me explain.

The 3 chapters that we have journeyed through leave us with questions:

Can I survive this prison? Is my position really in the heavenly realms? Has He redeemed me? Will I be there in the new heaven and new earth? Is there hope? Can I make the right decisions now? How do I know what to do? What does He want me to do? What about my sin? Will racism end? Will division leave the Church? Can equality ever be known? Will God dwell in me? Will I be able to love as He does? Here is the answer:

He is able.

He is able to do all of that.

He is able to do above all of that.

He is able to abundantly above all of that.

Then Paul makes up a new word which we translate as:

He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that!

That’s the context where the doxology sits.

How? According to His power in my life. No. In ‘us’. In community. We will know none of the 3 chapters outside of community.

Where will it be seen? Paul closes with a song or a shout, it is the crescendo of the prayer with all of the thoughts he has written so far:

It will be seen, the glory of it will not be my life, individually. Yes, Paul could have said that. The world needs to see this in our personal lives.

No. We are too small for this glory. We cannot contain or carry this glory.

It is in the Church. But wait. Even the Church is too small to contain the glory of what He is able to do.

In Christ Jesus!!!!!!! Can you hear the explosion of praise?!

Wait there’s more, even more!

Not just in my generation Paul says but in every generation, for ever and ever ….

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.”

I am sitting this morning once again hearing the sound of the crows that are creating a terrible noise in the trees. They are drowning out the beautiful sound of the singing from the birds who were created to do so. The crows outside my window think they can sing but they cannot. They occupy the trees thinking they own them but they don’t. When they arrive into the trees the other birds fly away. They are arrogant, dominant and I think that I might have to study a reason why they exist as I cannot think of one.

A crow wanted to know where the centre of the universe was. He landed on the highest tree he could find and looked to the horizon on his left and on his right; each was the same distance apart. Just to be sure, he flew further and landed on another tall tree and again looked at the distant horizons on his left and right. Again, they were equidistant. On the third tree, he looked around then said to himself, “Oh, I see, I am the centre of the universe!”

The lesson? Don’t be a crow!

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3: 17-19

Let’s read the Message version: “And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”

Paul prays that we might have power. Yes! We need more power to do more. Power for healings, transformations, progressions, growth, words go on and we dream of more.

But we may have missed it in our attempt to find the central point of the universe. It is not about being more powerful. It is not about being seen as the central figure. But it is about grasping, comprehending, perceiving, learning, reaching, testing, plumbing to the depths and rising to the heights in discovering the love of Christ.

Yesterday a friend sent me a podcast link to a Bible teacher who many will in charismatic/Pentecostal know. An old man now carrying what seems to be the most important message that of Agape. After 50 years of ministry he received a word from God that changed the axis of his life. I share it because it is powerfully beautiful.

You know the words to the song.

You know the song.

You can hear the music.

But you don’t know how to dance.

Let’s quickly go back to the words of Paul, “…how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”. Can you see the imagery? Can you see the movement of the body, the dance? Can you see the desire to express what has been found but to also discover more? The love of Christ!

Are we still dancing?

When God showed Abram the land he would live in and where he would receive blessing upon blessing, He also gave him a command. “Go walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Gen 13:17)

Today God is calling us to explore the length and breadth, the height and depth of the love of Christ. To walk in it and to even dance.

But see something else. The discovery of this love is not through a single individualistic pilgrimage. It is with others. Paul says: “you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus” or “together with all the Lord’s holy people”.

To learn the love of Christ is to do that in community and through people. We will only ever know this love by expressing that love. The unconditional, non-judgmental, selfless, sacrificial love within community is where we will know the love of Christ. Does that go wrong? Of course it does. Throughout the day there are countless moments when we face the choice to know the love of Christ in how we respond to people (who are at times not easy to like).

Did it go wrong for the people Paul was writing to? Yes!

The Church at Ephesus became well known for being good people in that they did good works. They were charitable people, helping the poor, foodbanks and other community outreaches. They had gone through a lot of suffering and persecution for their faith. But they persevered and they endured hardships for Christ. They were mature, seasoned, faithful followers of Christ. But …!

“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first” (Revelation 2:4 NLT)

Learning the love of Christ cannot be done without the love for people. If our love for others dies so does our love for Him.

Perhaps we need to learn to dance again.

 

 

I pray … that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, Ephesians 3:17

Message: “that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in.”

 

Dear Child

I want to be with you. I want to be sat right at the centre of your life. I want to dwell. I want to be the One who orders your life. I don’t want to visit as a stranger, staying awhile. I desire to settle, to make you a permanent place.

Gone are the days of staleness. I want to be as fresh as new bread every morning. Gone are the days of aimless and purposeless living. I want to shape your life and even painfully hammer your life into the person I have created you to be. I want to be seen in you. This is what I want. This is my prayer to you. Will you say yes to me?

God

 

Dear God

Yes. I am saying yes to you. Your desire to be with me has overwhelmed me.

Today I will make you a dwelling place just like the Tabernacle Moses made for you but better, just like the Temple Solomon built for you, but better.

I am your living place. Come live in me. I don’t want you to visit me, but to abide in me.

Yes. Come into the centre of my life. Bring your Presence and your Order. This is our secret place and I will protect if for us. This is our holy place and I will shield it for us.

It’s not where I live but who lives in me that counts. Prison or palace it matters not but your Presence in me makes all the difference in either place.

And as you remain in me something amazing seems to happen because it doesn’t feel like you are living in me only but that I live in you, that I remain in you.

I open the door though these prison doors are locked. I invite the perfect into this imperfect home.

Love is a flag flying high from the castle of my heart
From the castle of my heart,
From the castle of my heart;
Love is a flag flying high from the castle of my heart,
That the King is in residence there.

So fly it high in the sky let the whole world know
Let the whole world know,
Let the whole world know;
So fly it high in the sky let the whole world know,
That the King is in residence there.

Amen.

In the football matches this weekend and the marches in various cities of the UK people took the knee. In honour of how a man was killed they take the knee.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray … (Ephesians 3:14-15)

The Church needs to bow the knee today before the only One who can help this world.

Paul who has been given revelation of the equality found in the new family of God bows the knee and so must we.

My Father, I refresh myself only so that I can serve you, I rest only so that I am ready when I call, I renew with my eyes still focused on the purpose of my life, so I kneel in readiness of your call (Judges 7:6 “Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink”)

My Father, before I encourage others to be dedicated to you I do so myself. I look at what I have built and I bring it all to you. I have no answers to the disunity around me; I don’t know why the Church becomes defeated; I am powerless when heaven is closed or when famine and plagues come on the land; I have no guarantees for success and I don’t know what to do with the sin that deeply impacts; but I need you to see me, I need your eyes on me, so I kneel in my prayers to you. (1 Kings 8:54 ^“When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven”)

My Father, I cannot see the purity of your Church anymore. All I see are the double-standards. Racism, discrimination and tribalism are all around and arguments rise against each other. The burden is great, the sin too shameful to raise my head, we carry the guilt of our ancestors and we ourselves are no better today, so I kneel before you in surrender. (Ezra 9:5 “Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God”)

My Father, the enemy of my soul will do all he can to stop me praying to you; through distraction and diversion and deliberate actions. So I am determined to continue. I will do so publicly. I am not embarrassed or afraid to do so. So I will put into the diary of my life, time with you. I schedule YOU so that no one can disturb us and so I kneel before you because you are all important to me. (Daniel 6:10“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before”)

My Father, I stand in this garden crushed by the solitude and the loneliness in my soul. I drop to my knees under the weight of the burden you are asking me to carry. But this is your will for my life and so I kneel in complete surrender. ((Luke 22:41 “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed”)

So I kneel …

Most people have no idea how many Christians there are in the world: More than 2 billion people claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Malicious leaders have tried to destroy it, hostile groups have persecuted it, and sceptics have scoffed at it. Nevertheless, God’s Church is bigger now than ever before in history.

Every day 60,000 new people come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour? By the end of today, thousands of new churches will be started throughout the world, and that will happen tomorrow and the next day and the next.

But the growth of the Church isn’t the glory of the Church.

Paul is pouring out his heart regarding the mystery revealed to him by the grace of God that all are one in Christ. The Jew and the Gentile are worshippers in this new Temple. Then we have these words:-

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, ¹¹ according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:10-12)

What a beautiful word ‘manifold’ is and how important during these times to use it.

It means many-coloured and we see the beauty of it in the embroidered cloths and woven carpets.

Nothing in the world compares with the Church. It is manifold. It is a multi-racial and a multi-cultural community.

It is this intent of Christ, the Church, that the rulers and authorities, the earthly and heavenly societies and social structures are confronted with. What do they see?

They are looking at a Prismatic community of people of all ages, of all colour, of all social and cultural background, of all race and tribes, of all languages, together in a united one voice of worship to God.

The Church is a prism because the light of God rebounds off our oneness telling them something about God that the rulers and authorities did not know.

The light of God refracts through human life and human reconciliation.

More of God can be seen through us than can be seen without us.

Our diversity is a gift to the physical and spiritual world which marginalises or kills those who are different.

The message? All “may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

Soren Kierkegaard (believed to be the father of existentialism) being a theologian and a philosopher didn’t just believe that the key was for humans to define their own meaning in life but it was so much more than that:

“The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do … to find the idea for which I can live and die.”

What does God really want me to do?

Have you found the idea for which you can live and die for?

You are not here to play safe, avoid risks and live in fear of what others think of you. Some people have buried themselves and have not lived their lives that God truly had set out for them. There are treasures that have laid dormant for too long.

A man walked into a fortune teller’s booth and paid money for his palm to be read. “I see many things,” the fortune teller said. “Like what?” the man replied. “You will be poor and unhappy until you are 45yrs,” she said.

“Oh” he said dejectedly. Then he had a thought, “What will happen when I’m 45?” The fortune teller smiled and said “You will get used to it.”

People enter old age and die never changing the way they think or behave, ever. They get locked into being a certain type of person.

If you are reading this devotional then the time to become all that you can become is now. The time to utilise your life, your talents, to give love, to breathe joy, to make someone’s day, to honour God, is now. It is time to rise up and be the man and woman of God that you are.

Let’s read some verses and be reminded that we are in the brackets as it were because Paul was about to launch into a second prayer but he thinks more of the oneness in Christ particularly of the new Temple consisting of both Jew and Gentile.

“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” Ephesians 3:7-13

We will look at these verses in 2 devotionals. For today see what Paul knows about himself:

1. I know what I became

Paul’s Damascus Road experience never left him. It redirected him and his 3 years in Arabia formed him. “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.”

Think with me for a moment. Paul would have further revelations of this but think of Jesus, Son of God in heaven right now. Around the throne are cries day and night, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” Beings are laid prostrate, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Think of that that position. It was from this position of who He is and the power He holds that He said, ‘It is not about me, I will go.” Jesus came, humbling Himself as a servant and Paul will tell us more of this as he continues to write in prison.

People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.

Paul became a servant of the good news of the equality in the family of God and so must we. He modelled his service on Jesus and so must we. Can you imagine in the much needed discussions and decisions on race and discrimination that people came to the table as servants to this good news?

A servant has a heart that is not motivated by self-interest, either from their own agenda, status or safety ahead of others.

A servant does not react out of their pride or fear when spoken to. They are not quick to judge, take offence or blame others.

A servant is quick to forgive the shortcomings of others. Forgiveness is not a natural response to being hurt, it is an act of the will. Jesus taught it and demonstrated it on the cross and so should we.

2. I know what I was

Paul was deeply conscious of his unworthiness because he had killed so many believers. In fact, he had persecuted Jesus Christ himself, for it is true that when you attack the body of Christ, you attack Christ. “I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people …” Paul knew what he used to be. He once told Timothy that he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man. He knew what he used to be but he also knew he wasn’t that man anymore. Not only did Jesus forgive him but Paul forgave himself and knew that there was now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Maybe someone today needs to not make Christ’s forgiveness meaningless by not forgiving themselves for what they have done in their past. People end up in prison and they don’t realise it. Today we need to release ourselves from the past.

3. I know I live for the glory of others

Towards the end of this section before he launches into his prayer, he takes us back to the reality of his prison. “I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” His sufferings are for their glory. He is suffering in prison on their behalf. He is prepared to pay the price for the vision of equality to be a reality.

Is there someone in your life that you are prepared to suffer for so that they will be glorified?

Can you say:-

It’s not about me.

I’m not what I was

I will suffer so that her/him/them will be glorified.

If you can then you have found the idea that you can live and die for.

The spotlight is on Church leaders right now to get God’s house in order and rightly so. We have actually been trying to do so for many years. But in rooting out prejudice in our Christian community the messenger heralding ‘all lives matter’ will pay a price. For when a leader tries to unite then there will always be someone somewhere who is offended.

In the previous section Paul has ended by teaching how Christ had abolished the Jew-Gentile barrier and has created a new, alternative society, a Temple, where He lives. Then Paul continues, “For this reason I … he in intending to write another prayer. In verse 14, “ For this reason I kneel before the Father …” The comparison is so close it suggests that Paul hasn’t finished talking about the oneness of Jew and Gentile. So verses 2-13 can be seen as if they are in brackets. Let’s read some of the verses:

“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:1-6)

1. The revelation of the mystery was received by grace.

The word mystery to us means dark, secretive and puzzling. But in Greek and for how Paul uses the word it means something that was known but not to everyone. Things which are beyond human understanding but are now known because of revelation. This mystery is the Gift of God. Paul says this revelation came to me and the apostles and the prophets. In 2020 we need more than ever the apostolic and the prophetic ministries in the Church to flow in that same revelation of the mystery. Maybe these ministries could have done more? Perhaps. But Paul says the revelation is a Gift from God. We cannot boast, it is not that we have achieved some revelation, it doesn’t make humans elite from others and so diminishing the mystery, this is of Him. It is grace.

2. The mystery is that all are equal in the sight of God.

Paul’s revelation is that God always intended for the Gentiles to be equal to the Jews.

1. The inheritance of the new world to come is theirs. Opportunities.
2. They are members of the same body, of Christ Jesus. Recognition.
3. All the promises and benefits of the Jews are also now given to the Gentiles. Privileges.

The mystery is a Gift to each other. Paul’s view is that, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) In 2020 Paul would say all one in Christ Jesus means there is no room for racists, misogynists or cultural prejudices. It is about giving to each other the opportunities, recognition and the privileges equally.

3. This mystery will hurt you.

“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles”

Paul was convinced that all the hurt of his life which included the stoning, beatings, storms and now this imprisonment was under the Lordship of Jesus. He is a prisoner for the Lord. However he is fully aware of the reason. This mystery needs a Gift of ourselves. Paul was in prison because he believed in the “all one in Christ Jesus.” He believed and preached the mystery.

So we come back to how I introduced this blog today. There is a price to pay and that is if we truly hold to this mystery then we will need to let go, surrender to Christ and throw our whole lives into this revelation. Those who try and root out always get their hands dirty. Those who speak up will offend because they won’t have used the best and correct words. But at least they are not silent.

May we see opportunities, recognition and privileges for all those who are in Christ Jesus whatever the colour of their skin, gender or identity and may we be willing to neither boast of this revelation nor be afraid of the price that will need to be paid from people on all sides.

A survey published 10 years ago said that out of the then population of 61 million people in the UK, 35 million were Christian. Isn’t that amazing?!!

However out of the 35 million Christians only 9 million went to Church!

Do you ever wonder why people have stopped attending Church?

How sad it is when Churches have declined because people stopped going there.

“Personalities united can contain more of God and sustain the force of his greater presence better than scattered individuals.” Dallas Willard.

Transformation requires community. It is how and why we were created. But also hearing God, guidance, healing, His glory is better seen in community.

It is something that Paul isolated in prison writing to enforced scattered individuals because of persecution teaches the Church and us.

There are many in prisons of persecution today who would view it as an anathema that there are 26 million Christians in the UK who are not in a construction called the Church.

My prayer is that as we come out of lockdown and go back to our buildings eventually we not only have a renewed love for the Church but that our neighbours have found a love for us also and that we will reach the 26 million who have left during construction for all kinds of reasons.

Let’s read what Paul says next,

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

In the last few days we have been reading how the Temple with its dividing walls was gone. It was still there at the time of Paul’s writing but he says it is worthless, it might as well not be there anymore. God is doing something new. There is a new building, a new household for people and this is of course, the Church.

Paul shows us what the Church was but we in 2020 need to make sure that what he saw is still there in some form.

Paul’s view of Church:

1. The foundation was Christ Jesus, the name above all names, the cornerstone was the act of sacrifice, the cross. The floor of the Church has the blood of Christ.

In 2020 the Church still needs to give Jesus the highest honour, no one else, just Him. The floor of the Church should not have any other blood there, only the blood of Jesus.

2. The foundation of apostles and prophets was clear to see, even from an apostle in a prison. He doesn’t mention the other 3 offices of the 5 fold ministry which is clearly of importance to him as we will see soon. These were the heralds, the authoritative messengers, those who heard and spoke.

In 2020 the Church still needs the apostolic (people sent with spiritual authority) and the prophetic (people who are inspirational carriers of the Word of God and who bring revelation by His Spirit).

3. There was no outsiders. Unlike the Temple no one was excluded. Both Jew and Gentile together in the same household.

In 2020 the Church still needs to post its “All are Welcome” signs. In localised Churches it just may not be relevant to find Jews and Gentiles together. But what is relevant is there to be no racial divide, no cultural prejudice, no ‘what’s in it for me?’ attitudes. Egos are left behind, ‘no one tells me how to live’ is not the spirit of the church. There are no pretences, deception and lies. Before you think I am heading for utopia, there is no fantasy of what Church is either. Bonhoeffer said, “He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter.”

4. A place where God lives. The Temple was always known for the holy of holies. Where God chose to be. Paul says God is now living in the Church of points 1-3

In 2020 God still loves this Church. The call is for us also to love the Church the way He loves it. We must speak of the Church and treat the Church the way He does with the full knowledge of what Christ did for the Church.

Finally, before you launch into a depression over the imperfection of your local Church, note that Paul says we are a work in progress. We are rising to become, we are being built together and we are becoming a dwelling. He is not finished with us yet. It will get even better. Maybe it has to. But it will.

I have a friend called Kenton, he is from Hong Kong and he lives in London. Recently he was being taken to Heathrow airport by a Romanian taxi driver and who he led to Christ during that journey.

Three nations and one Christ is a beautiful picture.

December 1^st, 1955, on a bus in Alabama, Rosa Parks did something that would be a catalyst for a whole new world-wide movement. This was the moment she was born for. James Blake, a white bus driver, ordered that she gave up her seat for a white man who had boarded the bus. This black lady had become so tired of the treatment of her minority. We will never know what was in her mind that day but something broke in her heart as she spoke out, “this time I’m not moving, this time I’m not going to the back of the bus because my skin is black. This time I’m not going to subject myself to indignity.” She was arrested that day and sent for trial.

That was on a bus but not in Church.

What Rosa Parks did opened the pathway for Martin Luther King Jr.

King wrote what he believed the Apostle Paul would have said to the church if he were alive in 1956, “I understand that there are Christians among you who try to justify segregation on the basis of the Bible. … Oh my friends, this is blasphemy. This is against everything that the Christian religion stands for,” he wrote. “I must say to you as I have said to so many Christians before, that in Christ ‘there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.’”

That was America not Britain.

Archbishop Welby, issued a statement following a debate on social inequality in November 2019 outlining a story of Doreen Browne, who made a 14 day journey from Barbados to London in 1956, aged 16, and described the racism her mother experienced as “very unfair.” Browne recalled that a priest barred her mother from even entering his London church for Sunday worship.

That was 1956 not 2020.

Recently in Britain a new movement different to previous social justice movements has emerged that is not attached to the church or any religious leader. There is no organisation or charismatic figure leading it. We are all one. Which is at least part of what King quoted Paul as saying. But where is the Church? It can be said it is nervously sitting at the back of the bus because this movement has activists who in supporting ‘we are all one’ does so for the LGBTQ community amongst other things. Some of the Church are not even boarding the bus because it wants to be known for what it opposes and not what it supports.

King earlier quoted of course from Paul in his letter to the Galatians.

But in our next verses in Ephesians, Paul says this:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (2: 14-18)

The greatest barrier in Paul’s day was in the Temple. The Temple was built on a platform. On the same level around it was 3 courts. The Court of the Priests, next to that was the Court of Israel, a place for the laymen and next to that the Court of the Women, a place for the laywomen to worship. From this level there would be steps down to a wall and then on the other side of the wall, more steps to another wall, beyond this was the Court of the Gentiles, this would run right around the Temple. The Gentiles could look up and view the Temple but could never approach it. On this dividing wall there were warning notices not to enter. In fact one was found in 1871 which stated, “No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure round the Temple. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”

Paul says in our verses, this barrier has been broken down because of the death of Christ on the cross. Yet at the time of him writing from prison it was still standing. It didn’t get knocked down until AD70.

So Paul is saying spiritually it is broken down, it may still be standing, but it is worth nothing, it is out of date. Through Christ everyone can have access to God. Everyone is equal.

That is the Temple not the Church.

I think you can see what I am moved to say. It’s a bus, it’s another nation, it’s in another time period or it is in another culture. It isn’t now. It isn’t here. It isn’t in my Church. It isn’t in me. Is it?

The Church is really good at building walls of division. Barriers for people that say if you want to come in here then you are going to have to change and if you cannot change then you cannot come in. Paul would say that kind of Church is worth nothing. It knows nothing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church needs to reflect what the new heaven and new earth will look like.

The explosion of Paul’s first century Church came about because people would look at it and see they were all one in Christ Jesus. There was no ethnic division, no racism, no class structures, it was unique, different, every one treated equally. There was a body on earth that said Jews, Gentiles, black, white, slaves, masters, men and woman, the horrendous segregations of their time and culture that came together as one. The world observed and said, ‘that’s the body I want to belong to.’

There have been many times when God allowed the Church to be silenced. There have been times when He silenced it Himself. He spoke through one Pastor at a time when God’s people were loving their singing and each other’s fellowship. Yet at the same time the people were ignoring the poor, oppressing the minorities, guilty of spiritual hypocrisy, deception and lies. God said, “That’s enough singing. I cannot stand it. It is just noise, worthless noise to me. You might be enjoying it but I’m not.” The name of the Pastor was Amos.

There hasn’t been much gathered singing lately around the world. Our Church buildings have been silent. We are all looking forward to going back to congregational worship. I hope God is. I hope we have changed. I hope we will want to do better.