Christ In Our Hearts

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.”
Ephesians 3:17 TPT
“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
Ephesians 3:17 NLT

We’re going to camp for a second day at Ephesians 3:17, and look at a second Bible version, the New Living Translation. Paul prayed that through their faith, Christ would live within the hearts of his friends in Ephesus. That through their faith, His life would be present and active in their lives. This was life-changing stuff for a people steeped in the religions of their day. The Jews didn’t believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Christ. The Gentiles in Ephesus lived in a religious world dominated by the Roman and Greek god-pantheons and in particular worshipped their very own Artemis. But through Paul’s ministry, both the Jews and Gentiles had come to accept the truth about the saving grace of God and had taken the step of faith, repenting of their sins and accepting that Jesus was the Christ and was their Lord and Saviour. 

In the previous verse in this chapter, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would experience the power of God’s glorious riches in their lives. And he then adds a joining word introducing us into verse 17, the word “Then“. The NIV starts this verse with “So that“. Was Paul therefore saying to the Ephesians that, because they have all this power, explosive and supernatural power at that, potentially available within them, that they in effect could provide a home for Christ? There are many verses in the Bible about Christ living within us. Here’s just two of them from the Epistles. Romans 8:11a “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you…” And Galatians 2:20a, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me….”. And Jesus said in John 15:4, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” And in case we doubt the power that is available to us, how much power do we think would be needed to raise someone from the dead into eternal life? And it lives within us, just waiting to be “unveiled“. 

So today, is it realistic for us pilgrims to expect to have Christ live within each of us, as it was in the Ephesian church? What Paul was saying was that we can enjoy an intimate relationship with Jesus, as He lives within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. A relationship of love and trust. A relationship where Jesus can lead and guide us in our daily lives. So, for example, faced with a situation that perhaps would have at one time invoked a negative response, we now respond with compassion and grace. Increasingly, we see Jesus moulding and transforming our lives, making us more like Him. And over time, our love of Jesus will increase more and more, keeping us strong. Not forgetting, of course, that we have this “explosive power” waiting to be revealed.

This power that we have implied within us, has to be released through faith. Jesus living within us  directs and focuses the power in many different ways, and it becomes more apparent and effective as He works through us through faith. In the Ephesian church, in that society and culture, the early Christians needed the power to stand firm in the face of intense persecution. And the evidence for that power was shown through the growth of the Christian Church, that turned the world of that time upside down, in the process resetting history into His-story. I am writing this blog post just having heard that Russia has invaded Ukraine. The same power that impacted the First Century world is still available to us in the 21st Century world. Jesus is the same “yesterday, today and forever”. He is the Prince of Peace. So we pray for our leaders, for world events, for our persecuted brothers and sisters, in faith that the power within us can make a difference. And as we pray God is listening.

One last thought, for pilgrims, from this verse. We read that “Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” The picture is of a tree, which has a root system that provides nourishment and stability to the trunk, branches and leaves above the ground. The nourishment, in the form of water and minerals, combines with the chemistry that goes on in the leaves, to provide all that is needed for growth. And the stability comes from having roots that go so deep, and are so resilient, that no matter what storms are present, the tree stands firm. As the tree grows, so does its root system. In my local woods several trees have been uprooted by the recent storms, victims of an unstable root system that could not support them. The picture is clear – through our faith, we grow taller and stronger day by day. Our roots in Christ also grow to keep us stable and nourished, no matter what the storms of life throw at us. Without faith, we won’t have the resilience to stand firm in the face of adversity, and will end up like the fallen trees in my local woods – dead and decaying. So we pray and invite Christ to make His home in our hearts. But are we making room for Him?

Faith

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.”
Ephesians 3:17 TPT

The Passion Translation of our verse today picks up the theme of faith, which we looked at in yesterday’s blog post. We build up our faith muscles “by constantly using [our] faith“. Day by day, as we continue through life, we encounter situations that need the grace and love of God. And through faith we reach out to our loving Heavenly Father through prayer. For His answers, for His remedies, for the “supernatural strength” and “explosive power” that we read about in Ephesians 3:16. Through prayer we enter into God’s presence and bring before Him the needs and situations before us. So we pray for guidance when making a difficult decision. We pray for a sick friend or relative, for healing. We pray for all sorts of things. So we, in faith, leave the situation with our Heavenly Father, who knows what is best. And “by constantly using [our] faith” we will become more and more in tune with our Father in Heaven, and able to look at the situation before us through His eyes. There are times when the situation before us is beyond what we have faith for. We pray anyway, and also pray for the gift of faith, so that the outcome is as God wants it to be. Jesus reminded us of the importance of faith in the outcome to our prayers. He said in Matthew 9:29, “Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you’”. (Emphasis mine). 

There is a discipline that us pilgrims would be well advised to follow. That is to keep a journal of our prayers. A notebook where we can write down our prayers of faith. And then keep them updated with God’s answers to our prayers. When we realise empirically that God answers prayers it is very faith building. I look back over my life and see many occasions where God has answered my prayers of faith. The answers might not have been what I had hoped, but answered they were. The Godless cynic might have put down my experiences to coincidence. But there have been too many “coincidences” for me to accept that. Instead I call them “God-incidences”, because they are so real to me. To me, they are obviously answers to my prayers from my loving Heavenly Father. And I am so grateful to Him for His care and interest in me and my prayers.

One of the most misunderstood topics of prayer is the prayer for sick people. In my personal experience this is a place where ordinary pilgrims like me fear to tread. A complex area where we find answers to prayer often don’t deliver what we would perhaps expect, or hope for. We scrutinise the Scriptures and particularly the Gospels where Jesus healed so many sick people, to see if there is a formula or methodology we could adopt. But there isn’t of course. God is never bound by human thinking. There are many complex issues involved. For example, some people don’t want to be healed – Jesus asked the disabled man at the Pool of Bethesda just that question. We read in John 5:6, “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”. Another situation might have involved sin. In Matthew 9:2 perhaps Jesus discerned that the more important issue was forgiveness for the man’s sins. “Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”. Note that in this case the man’s friends had faith that Jesus could resolve their friend’s problem. But regardless of what the issues are, we still pray for the sick. There are two verses in James 5 that are often quoted, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.“. Another key verse is from Isaiah 53, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”. Jesus took on our infirmities, sicknesses and sins so that we are healed, body, soul and spirit.

One last thought about praying for healing – we are blessed by an incredible Health Service here in the UK. Many complain about it but behind the scenes dedicated men and women are compassionately using their skills – personal, medical and technical – to dispense God’s healing power. And we have faith in their abilities, and thank God for them. 

Let us never give up praying. And praying with all the faith we have, to a loving Heavenly Father who cares for us. One last Scripture about faith, from that great faith chapter in Hebrews. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.“. God loves it when we pray in faith. I want to please Him, don’t you?

Explosive Power

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.”
Ephesians 3:16 TPT

Paul continues to pray for his friends back in Ephesus. And this is not a prayer along the lines of “Please bless Aunty Mary…”, good though that is sometimes. This is a powerful prayer. A prayer that is tuned into the God-zone. A prayer for a life-changing transformation to take place in lives that were perhaps not fully aware of what was within them. Now imagine a room with a door that has never been opened. In fact, a room where the door blends into the surrounding walls to the extent that most of the time its existence is hidden. But one day, someone detects that the door is there and opens it to find an amazing treasure trove behind it. Perhaps Paul had a picture of a similar door in the hearts of his readers, a door that they were only dimly aware of. A door that they had timidly opened just a crack, and had peeped in to see what was there. But they had ventured no further. Well, Paul was praying that they would grasp the door handle and yank the door open to expose “the unlimited riches of [God’s] glory”. And he prayed that they would keep it open until what was behind the door could flood out into their lives.

So what were these “unlimited riches” hidden within them? And how will a knowledge of them help today’s pilgrims in their life journeys? The Passion Translation which I have used today mentions God’s “glory and favour“. Paul prayed that “supernatural strength floods [our] innermost beings“. And he doesn’t stop there. He mentions God’s “divine might and explosive power”. If true, this verse has to be transformative for our lives. For our pilgrimage. If true, where is this power? Where are the lives being impacted by it? 

On my pilgrimage through life, I have come across Christians who deny that the power Paul wrote about was applicable to today. They claim that the work of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity who delivers God’s “divine might and explosive power“, stopped when the Apostles finally all died. Sadly, I think they worship a limited God who I don’t fully recognise. I worship Paul’s God, the Almighty Being who has made His “unlimited riches” available to me. Why would He say to me that He has all this power, that He has put it within me, but then say He was sorry but He only allowed those first Apostles to use it? 

So back to my question. What is this power? I suggest that the only limitation to what God can do in our lives is our faith, or lack of it. Matthew recorded Jesus’ words about faith – he wrote in Matthew 17:20, “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” I think we can all agree that telling a mountain to move, and seeing it happen, is a pretty convincing demonstration of God’s power. Jesus also said, as recorded in John 14:12-14, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” There doesn’t seem to be any limit to what God can do. 

So there is only one answer to my question. It is an answer that starts and finishes with God. I have to tune into my own God-zone, with faith that He is who He says He is – the Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient Almighty Creator God. And so we take small steps of faith in our life-pilgrimage, building up the spiritual muscles that will enable God’s “explosive power” to impact our lives and the lives of those around us. In my life there have been occasions when God’s power has been indisputable. And I continually thank Him for making His resources available to me. He truly is a God of power, and love, and grace. We worship an exciting God, who only waits for willing servants to share in His exciting plan for mankind.

For This Reason

Posted on by Adrian Clark

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

“Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’”
John 3:5-7 NLT

For this reason … what reason? Perhaps Paul considered the Ephesian church, that body of believers, as his “baby”, an infant birthed from his diligence in preaching the Gospel in a city dominated by its own particular deity, Artemis. A fellowship of baby Christians who he desperately wanted to be with, personally nurturing them with the love and grace of God. But they were having to stand firm on their own, dependent on God and His Spirit for all they spiritually needed. He couldn’t be with them, but he could pray. And there in that prison cell, Paul fell to his knees, to pray for the folks back in Ephesus. 

Paul knelt before his Heavenly Father. Humbly and fervently praying. And he went on in his prayers to think about the huge family God has. Every person in every family who call upon His name. All those who claim the surname of God. All those who have a “born again” birth certificate. And there in his attitude of prayer, Paul felt a glow of encouragement about how many there were in this wonderful family. There may have even been a faint sense of pride, quickly extinguished, as he went through the names of all the friends he had made, remembering the times when he introduced them into the Kingdom of God, right into God’s family. 

Nicodemus came for a cosy chat with Jesus, but right at the start, Jesus pointed out to him that we go through two birth experiences. A natural birth from our parents, a man and a woman. And a spiritual birth through the Holy Spirit. Jesus was quite explicit. He said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again“. We have no choice in being born naturally. But we do have a choice, sadly rejected by most people, of being born again of the Spirit. Something amazing happens, beyond natural, worldly comprehension, when someone is “born again“. But when it happens, through faith we are immediately adopted as a new member of God’s family. We read before about how we came to be members of God’s family. In Ephesians 1:5 Paul wrote, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” So there you have it – through Jesus and His sacrifice for us sinners, we have, through faith in Him, been adopted into God’s family. The entry on our earthly kingdom birth certificate might be something like “John Smith”. But on our spiritual Kingdom birth certificate it might be “John God-son”. We have a dual nationality. One will end when we leave this world. The other is eternal; we will be in God’s family for ever. When we look at it in that way, perhaps we should be more attentive to the responsibilities of being a part of God’s eternal family. Hmmm…

There may be readers of my blog today who haven’t yet taken that step of being “born again”. If that is you, please get in touch. I would love to help you fill out your application for a new birth certificate.

Discouragement

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“My dear friends, I pray that you will remain strong and not be discouraged or ashamed by all that I suffer on your behalf, for it is for your glory.”
Ephesians 3:13 TPT

Why did Paul make this extraordinary statement? He made it after describing his part in the dissemination of God’s mysterious plan, at the end of a section of verses which he started by declaring his incarceration “for the sake of you Gentiles“. It was almost as though Paul briefly emerged from some wonderful place full of the love and grace of God, a place full of Heavenly thoughts and then cast his eyes around at his circumstances, and consequently had a bit of a “wobbly”. But then he realised why he was where he was – a prisoner “for the sake of you Gentiles“. In a dark, cold and filthy cell, miles from home in a foreign land. And as we read, he was suffering. We don’t know from what, but I can imagine he was cold (in 2 Timothy 4:13 he asked Timothy to bring his cloak when he visited next). He was uncomfortable. Probably hungry. I’m guessing, but one thing was for sure, he was suffering because while he was in prison he wasn’t out there on the road, preaching the Gospel “for the sake of you Gentiles“. 

But the least he could do while imprisoned was to write to his friends back in Ephesus. We don’t know who was writing down what he said, though there are a few suggestions – a scribe called Tertius was mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans. But Paul never let grass grow under his feet. He never wasted a moment, always praying, writing or witnessing. In this verse, Paul couldn’t stop himself from being an encouragement. Most of us in similar circumstances would have wasted our ink in whingeing about our lot, complaining about the food, the cold, the …. But not Paul. He was so concerned about his friends that he forgot about himself. He encouraged them to be strong in their faith, not held back with feelings of guilt. Not to be discouraged because of his sufferings. What a selfless man Paul was.

But Paul said he suffered for the glory of his readers, the Ephesians. How come? How does being in prison glorify someone else? Perhaps it was because Paul felt he was suffering so that this group of believers could enter into God’s glory through their new-found faith. That thought must have been encouraging for him, helping him through the seemingly unending dark and cold days and nights in his prison cell. Perhaps he thought it was well worth the sacrifice he made. But one day we will hopefully have the opportunity to have a chat with Paul.

In our pilgrimage through life, we pray that we will never be imprisoned for our faith, as many are in other parts of the world. Our fellow pilgrims in countries such as North Korea and Afghanistan know what suffering for their faith is all about. How do we feel about that? Saddened? Angry? Perhaps even thinking thoughts like, “Why is God letting them suffer in this way”? But Jesus was clear – He warned His disciples in Matthew 10 about the cost of presenting a counter-cultural message to a hostile world. Paul was paying the price. And perhaps we do as well, in a lower-key way. Through whispered comments in our work places. Losing our jobs, perhaps, as some have for wearing a cross. Through a lack of acceptance into certain social circles. Being ostracised by our neighbours. But whatever God has asked us to do in our service for Him, we know that He will never leave us, never stop loving us. I’m sure Paul heard Jesus say, “Well done”, when he entered Heaven. Something we too will hear, at the end of our life-journey, as we continue to do what Paul did, “for the sake of us Gentiles“. 

Approaching God

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“…in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Ephesians 3:11b-12 NIVUK

Is Paul being a bit presumptuous with this verse? After all, we might remember the fear the Israelite slaves had of God – we read in Exodus 20:18-19, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not let God speak to us or we will die.’” So in those days the people were so afraid of God that they trembled in fear. There was no way they were going to approach God. Not unless they had a death wish. But in Paul’s letter, he suggested that through faith, the Ephesians could freely approach God. What then has changed? God hasn’t because He is unchangeable. We read in Malachi 3:6, “I the Lord do not change…”  And in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” It is through Jesus that we can approach God. He came to this world to bridge the gap between God and His creation. Through Jesus and His sacrificial death at Calvary, we are made righteous and free from sin, a necessary state because no sin can ever be allowed in God’s presence. The New Covenant of love and grace has replaced the Old Covenant of obedience to the Law.

How can we ever thank God enough for His “mysterious plan” and His unlimited grace and mercy. The writer to the Hebrews wrote in 4:16, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need“. There is that word again – “confidence“. Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites had no confidence that they would survive an encounter with God. In fact, they were told to not even touch the mountain where God was meeting Moses, let alone God Himself. And they trembled in fear at the very thought of God and what He could do to if His people were disobedient. But we, God’s people (and remember from earlier in this Epistle, we were individually chosen by God before the creation of the world), have nothing to fear because Jesus is at God’s right hand, interceding for us (Romans 8:34). Because of our faith in Jesus and all He has done for us, we truly can approach God confidently and fearlessly. I love the first two verses in Romans 5 (NLT), “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Before God we are righteous, at peace and one day we will share His glory. Truly, an “undeserved privilege“.

So what happens when we approach God “with confidence”? We have the faith to do so, secure in the knowledge that Jesus is there, waiting for us. Well, one thing is that, as the verse in Hebrews says, we receive mercy. Mercy when we really deserve judgement. Declared not-guilty when we should be getting punished. It is not that God has stopped being the righteous Judge. It is because Jesus took the sin-crimes we committed onto Himself, and in return gave us His righteousness. So in God’s presence we are not-guilty.

There is grace there at His throne as well. Grace to overlook our human traits. Grace is a blanket of God’s love and favour; we don’t deserve it but He covers us with it anyway. The grace is there in “our time of need“. We are needy people. Pilgrims struggling along against a tide of human cultures in a society that oppresses us, conflicts with us, puts us down. But our loving Heavenly Dad thinks we are wonderful. We are part of His family. We can sit on His Heavenly knee feeling His gentle arms around us. Feeling the whisper of an “I love you” in our spiritual ears. Paul knew that when the Ephesians approached God’s throne they would receive what they needed. He would rather have been with them but he reminded them that there was Someone better. And we too must never forget that. Thanks, Dad!

The Church and the Plan

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was His eternal plan, which He carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
 Ephesians 3:10-11 NLT

Perhaps in days past, verse 10 came to form the basis for the ornate and expensive buildings that today bear the name “church”. Wonderful created works such as St Paul’s Cathedral in London. My local abbey in Dunfermline dates back to the 12th Century, a beautiful building standing as a testimony to the builders. There are many examples of a previous age of religious building that are truly amazing in their expressions of beauty and value. Perhaps it was hoped that the impressive architecture would be an example of God’s wisdom, in the process reminding the “unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” of His plan. But it is clear from Scripture, that the “Church” is the people, not the building. We read in Colossians 1:18 that Jesus “is the head of the body, the church“.  Jesus isn’t the head of a building. 

So we Christians are the “Church”. And God’s purpose was to use us, not buildings, to show the inhabitants of the “heavenly places” His wisdom. Much is said in the Bible about the church, such as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”). Or the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2, “For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.”). And we all together, in unity, will one day be present at a marriage feast, as we read in Revelation 19:9,  “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ And he added, ‘These are the true words of God.’” Jesus even taught about it through a parable, which we can read in Matthew 22. 

Many books have been written about the Church, but what does all this mean for a 21st Century pilgrim like me? How does God’s purpose for His people affect me? Or involve me? Can I just gloss over this verse and continue to warm a pew every Sunday and live my life regardless? This is obviously a personal decision, one that needs to prayerfully be made in God’s presence. But if God has a plan for His Church then He has a plan for me, because I count myself as one of His people. Part of His global and eternal Church. And as we read today, I am part of His plan to display His wisdom not just to a sinful world, but also as a sign to the “unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places“. We who are His people pray together for access to this “wisdom in its rich variety” so that we can be worthy of our calling. And we do our bit for His purposes, fulfilling His plan, disseminating the Good News about “Christ Jesus Our Lord“.

The Least Deserving

Posted on by Adrian Clark

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.”
Ephesians 3:8-9 NLT

““Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting!”
Acts 9:5 NLT

Paul described himself as being the least deserving of all God’s people. A bit harsh, don’t you think? A false humility? A personal put-down? No, I think I can see where Paul was coming from. When faced with this new counter-cultural but, in the traditional Jews’ opinion, blasphemous cult of “The Way”, Paul suddenly found his life-mission. The most important thing he could do. Perhaps he thought he was the only solution to the problem of this cult. Everyone else was just complaining, tutting, plotting, in the end not doing very much. But he was going to sort it. He was single-handedly going to wipe all these “blasphemers” from the face of the earth. At best he was going to imprison them. At worst, stone them. Speaking of which, that is where Paul, then called Saul, first cropped up in Scripture. At the stoning of Stephen. He held the stoners’ clothes. He looked on in approval. And in him birthed the burning desire to complete the work. We read in Acts 9:1, “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples….”. His intention was to go to Damascus where he had heard there was a fellowship there, some disciples of “The Way”. With letters of authority he was going to drag them as prisoners to Jerusalem, where they would stand trial for “blasphemy”.

But as we know, something dramatic happened on the Damascus road. A dramatic U-turn so incredible and life-changing that it puts into insignificance the U-turns of our elected politicians. Saul, soon to be Paul, met the risen Jesus. A meeting so amazing that Paul, literally in a flash, changed from being a persecutor of the early Christians to being one of their greatest evangelists. We read that he was blind for three days. Can you imagine the agony of what he was going through? The enormity of what he had been doing must have been driving his thoughts, and we read that “he was praying“. The regrets, the guilt, the hurt. Enough to drive him to insanity? (Incidentally, he was accused of being mad in Acts 26:24 but that’s another story). 

So it is not surprising that Paul thought himself “the least deserving of all God’s people“. I can imagine the poor man must have regularly held his head in his hands, distraught over what he had done. But the mind-boggling truth is that God’s grace was sufficient even for sins of the magnitude of Paul’s. There was no limit to God’s grace in Paul’s day. And there still isn’t today. God will never reject a repentant sinner, even one who is “least-deserving” like Paul. We must never think that we are too bad for God to forgive. Too sinful even for His grace to save us. As Christians, we all experienced a U-turn in our lives. That day when we said “Yes” to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. That day may not have been so dramatic as Paul’s was. But the outcome is the same. We are forgiven by grace. God’s unlimited and wonderful grace. And like Paul, what else can we do than share the wonder of God with those around us. As I have said before, we are “beggars, showing other beggars where to find bread”. Let’s always keep a few crumbs in our pockets for the needy who come our way.

Spreading the Good News – 2

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. 
Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.”
Ephesians 3:5, 8-9 NLT

So imagine the scenario. We have an amazing secret that we now want to go public on, revealing a bombshell of life-changing information to a fractious and divided population. How would we go about it? Obviously, we would need to choose men and women of good standing in the community, with a reputation of being experts in their particular field of science, medicine or theology that the information was related to. People who would be well respected. It would be hoped that they would be listened to and their information and advice therefore followed. We see such an activity today – someone, for example, stands up and announces a new diet that, if followed, would prevent our risk of this illness or condition, or other benefit, usually for the bottom line of some corporation or other. 

But not so with God. Firstly, his “bombshell of life-changing information” was infinitely greater than any man-made quackery. God’s secret plan was so life-changing that human plans paled into insignificance in comparison. Secondly, God did not choose to announce His plan with the help of the religious experts of His day. Those mighty theologians who dominated Jewish thought and teaching. No. He used ordinary men and women to announce His plan. Fishermen, a tax collector, a doctor, a tent maker. The human response would be that it would be bound to fail. But. There’s always a “but” when God is involved. We read in Acts 4:13, “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” In 1 Corinthians 1:27, we read, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” God didn’t need the experts and educated people of the first century to disseminate His plan. Just Spirit-filled men and women who were bold enough to turn to God and say “Yes, Lord”. Like a young peasant girl did when an angel asked her to bear God’s only Son, Jesus. God doesn’t need educated people. He doesn’t need university degrees, or long years spent in a seminary. Just people who have “been with Jesus“. God has turned our world values upside down. So on our pilgrimage through life we may be considered fools for believing what we believe. But God thinks we are wonderful and He has entrusted to us the privilege of sharing His message of hope with the dying world around us. What an amazing God we serve.

Spreading the Good News – 1

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed His mysterious plan to me. 
And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving Him by spreading this Good News.”
Ephesians 3:3, 6-7 NLT

Paul was much taken up with this thought of God’s “mysterious plan”. Looking back, as we do, there doesn’t seem much about it that is “mysterious”, but to the peoples of Paul’s day, the Middle East in the first century, it must have been an amazing revelation. This is the second time Paul has mentioned the subject in this Epistle, previously revealing it in chapter 1 and verse 10. Can you imagine the impact it would have had on the religious people of Paul’s day? The Jews would have immediately been offended and upset, that someone, particularly someone who they knew at one time was a Pharisee, would suddenly turn their belief system upside down, by preaching what to them was a heresy, committing the sin of blasphemy in the process. To the non-Jews, referred to as the Gentiles, the Good News would have had a similar impact, in that it too would come up against the worship of accepted religions such as the Greek pantheon of gods. The Ephesians had their own special god, Artemis, aka Diana. And we see the mayhem that Paul stirred up in Acts 19 when a riot developed because the local silversmiths, who made a living making images of the goddess, could see their livelihood disappearing. 

So God’s plan was so counter-cultural, that, humanly speaking, it was bound to fail. But as Paul pointed out, “God’s grace and mighty power” was involved. Perhaps the nearest scenario we could imagine today would be if someone was going round preaching the good news that Christians and Muslims were part of God’s plan, which was to unite them into one faith. Can you imagine the mayhem that would result? Even though God’s grace extends to everyone, regardless of who or what they are? 

God’s plan was one of equality and unity. Through Jesus we all share in His unlimited blessings. We all share in an inheritance unlike any other. And Paul again pointed out that he was privileged to be able to share God’s plan, through “God’s grace and mighty power“. A privilege to be in prison for sharing the Gospel? But a privilege it is. God had done so much for Paul, and does so much for us, that it is surely a privilege to be able to serve God through our service to Him. Regardless of the consequences. So we pilgrims continue our journey, conscious of, and grateful for, the sacrifice made by Paul, a sacrifice that laid the foundations for many a church congregation and left us a legacy of his grace and love filled letters. Letters that contain so much of our theology today. We too look out for opportunities to do our bit in sharing the Good News, just as necessary today as it was in Paul’s day.