Toward a Missional Understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose, Part III

See previous posts to get up to speed!

Point three:

God’s Eternal Purpose will be Consumated in the Marriage of Heaven and Earth.

I’ll make one final observation concerning God’s Eternal Purpose from these verses. It’s found in verse ten.

…as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

The Christian’s ultimate hope is not to go to heaven when one dies; it is to see heaven come to earth. We’ve already noted that Paul anticipates a day when the universe is united under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He also anticipates a future day when God will dwell with man, even as he did prior to the fall. Then, God’s will will be done on earth even as it is in heaven.

This is the future aspect of God’s Eternal Purpose. It is clear then, that God’s Eternal Purpose has not yet been fulfilled. We are still in the midst of his purpose. For an excellent, in depth study of this concept, I highly reccomend NT Wright’s Surprised By Hope.

Application

When you look at the book of Ephesians, there is a very obvious division, as there is in many of Paul’s letters. The first three chapters are largely concerned with cosmic, philosophical, theological concepts. The latter three chapters of Ephesians bring those concepts to bear on the readers’ lives. For this post, we might ask the question of how our knowledge of God’s Eternal Purpose is to affect how we live in the present. In actuality, what we would be asking is how do we participate in God’s Eternal Purpose?

To answer that question, I want to take a look at some selected verses from the latter half of Ephesians. Once again, I have three observations

Walk Worthy: Maintain Unity (4.1-3)

Look with me at the first three verses of Ephesians 4. Remember, this is Paul bringing down to earth the eternal concepts he discussed in the first three chapters:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

The Ephesians are exhorted to walk worthy. How? By maintaining unity. Paul refers to the oneness of the faith as he appeals to them. There is one Lord, one faith, etc. Therefore, we must be one! After all, God’s Eternal Purpose has in mind the unity of the entire universe under the Lordship of Jesus. We, as a covenant community, must then maintain unity! We are called to reflect the future reality of the New Earth in the present…the final eschaton has burst into the present in the covenant community of the Church. In that way, we participate in his Eternal Purpose.

Imitate God: Maintain Purity (5.1-5)

For a second observation, let’s examine verses one through five of chapter five:

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is an idolater) has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Not only must we walk worthy by maintaining unity, we need to maintain purity. It is so easy to let sins like the ones Paul mentions in these verses sneak into our lives. Foolish talking, crude joking, lust, covetousness (the sin of our nation and culture!)—these often go unchecked. One might even argue that our entire economy is based on covetousness and greed!

When the world looks at the church does it say: “Lordship of Jesus? It doesn’t look like you are living under his Lordship! You look exactly like us!”

But think of it this way: sin, no matter how seemingly small, is the fundamental problem with the universe. God’s Eternal Purpose in large part exists to eradicate this cancer from the earth. Will God’s people indulge in such evil?

Paul makes clear that God’s people will not indulge in it. Those who do, he says, have no part in the Kingdom of Christ and God.  This is very sobering.

Let me clarify that Paul always acknowledges that Christians sin, but if we live in lives of unchecked sin, our conscience never convincing us of our need for repentance, then we may be demonstrating that we do not truly know Christ, that we do not have his Holy Spirit within us.

As Christians, we participate in God’s Eternal Purpose by taking sin in our lives seriously and dealing with it ruthlessly. Not only do we maintain unity, we must maintain purity, and be a people set apart from the world, a people truly under the Lordship of Jesus.

I might add that this would include sins of ommission as well as commission. When we abdicate our responsibility to be people of peace and justice, we are not faithfully anticipating the New Creation, are not participating in God’s mission, and are certainly not maintaining purity. We are allowing the systemic evils of this world, the very evils God’s Purpose is to destroy, to continue and to flourish. We must be militant against all forms of impurity in our world, both personal, corporate, national and global.

Engage in Battle (6.10-12, ff)

Finally, please look with me at verses 10-12 of Ephesians 6.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Do you realize that we are engaged in battle? God’s Eternal Purpose involves a battle against evil.

When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, Jesus said, “I say unto you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build by church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Let me ask you something about gates. Have you ever seen an attack gate? You don’t “fire” a gate. You don’t “lob a gate grenade.”  Gates aren’t offensive weapons. They are defensive. Do you realize what that means? Jesus is saying that his church is to storm the gates of hell. He’s using hell as a metaphor for evil, for the forces of darkness that Paul refers to here. He’s saying there’s not a chance in hell!

Do you realize that we are engaged in a battle? Where are we storming the gates of hell? In a previous post I said that God’s Eternal Purpose largely has to do with mission. It’s not enough to maintain unity, though it is essential. It is not enough to maintain purity, though it is necessary. We must engage in battle. We must fight back the tide of evil, we must reach out to a lost world, we must participate in God’s Eternal Purpose.

So, how are you storming hell’s gates? More importantly, how are we as a church engaging in the battle. How is your local expression of the Church engaging in battle, and how can you lead them into the fray?

If we wish to participate in God’s Eternal Purpose then we must maintain unity, maintain purity and engage in battle.

 

Toward a Missional Understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose Part 2, Take Two

I have been posting excerpts from a sermon series I recently preached at my church. We have been studying Ephesians 1.9-10, with an eye to discover the “Chief End of God.” Our first point is that God’s Eternal Purpose Has Been Revealed. Our second is this: God’s Eternal Purpose is in Christ.

As we’ve already said, in the greater context of this passage Paul is listing spiritual blessings that we have. He says that all of these blessings are in Christ. So too is this blessing explained as being in Christ. Specifically it says in verse nine:

Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ.

In other words, God’s purpose in the universe, his eternal will and plan have been set forth in Christ. It is totally consumed with and hinges on the person and work of the second person of the trinity, of God’s incarnate son Jesus, who is the Christ. Everything that God is doing in this world is wrapped up in Jesus. It all points to him. It is all for him. It all happens because of Him.

Notice how Paul refers to Jesus. He refers to him as Christ. The King. The annointed one. It’s a title. Jesus as King. God’s eternal purpose has to do with Jesus being King, being the Christ, being the ruler of His people. This is only further brought out in verse 10:

…as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Other translations emphasize the thought here by saying the universe will be brought under one head, Jesus Christ.

All of history, then, is working toward the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The universe will be united by its confession of the Lordship of Christ. However we define God’s Eternal Purpose, it must include Jesus as being the supreme head over all of Creation—the acknowledged King.

Much of present day Christianity is guilty of deemphasizing this all important aspect of Christ’s Lordship. Christ’s Lordship (read: Kingship) assumes a Kingdom wherein he is king. In fact, the context of all the epistles, indeed the whole New Testament, is that of God’s Kingdom come and coming.

Notice also that there is an emphasis in these verses on unity. A chief aspect of God’s Eternal Purpose and of Christ as King is that this fragmented, divided world will be unified. We’ll talk more about this in future installments. (This also has huge implications concerning Christians’ present day mission. We’ll get to that soon too)! Suffice it to say that the great drama of Creation, Fall and Redemption finds its denoument in the unity of all things under Christ…in fact, in the marriage of heaven and earth. We will examine this last point next time. v

In review, we can really, truly know from God’s word what His purpose is in the Universe. And one thing we know for certain is that it is intimately bound to the concept of Christ as King and supreme head over all Creation.

 

Toward a Missional Understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose, Part 1, take two

So, where can we go to gain an understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose? I believe that the clearest revelation of his purpose is in Ephesians 1. 9-10.  I’ve classified three aspects of God’s Eternal Purpose from Paul’s description in verses 9-10. They are:

1) God’s Eternal Purpose Has Been Revealed

2) God’s Eternal Purpose is in Christ

3) God’s Eternal Purpose has a future consumation in the Marriage of Heaven and Earth

For this blog post, we will explore point one:

God’s Eternal Purpose Has Been Revealed

Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians by listing the spiritual blessings that all believers share. We have been chosen by God and adopted into his family. We have been bought out of the slavery of sin. We have an inheritance. We are sealed, guaranteed to gain our inheritance, by the Holy Spirit. In verses 9-10 he names another spiritual blessing: the blessing of revelation.

…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

It’s interesting to look at this blessing as compared to the others. It’s easy to see how being chosen by God and adopted into his family are blessings. To be a son or daughter of God! To be loved by God as his child! To have the perfect Father who is above all things and has our best  at heart! That is a blessing. What about redemption? To be bought from the slave market of sin? To be free from the sick cycle of evil that we humans find ourselves in? To find a new master? A loving master that gives grace for our weakness rather than exploiting it? These are obviously wonderful blessings!

But the one I want to focus on is different. This blessing has to do with knowledge. God has revealed to us a mystery. In the New Testament, “mysteries” are usually things that were hidden in the past but have now been revealed to his children. So it is here. At first glance, one might think this isn’t so great a blessing, or that it pales compared to the others.

One would be wrong! God has given us “the Answer”! He has revealed to us what he is doing in the world! There are two simple observations I want to make from the mere fact that God has revealed his purpose to us.

It’s Knowable

If you ask the question, “What’s the meaning of life?” to the average person, they’ll think you’re joking. It’s the ultimate question! The question for the ages! People spend their entire lives looking for this answer. There was a Monty Python movie called The Meaning of Life which satirized the search. The world tells us, “You can’t know the meaning of life. It’s a mystery, and it will stay that way.”

But the world is wrong. It’s not so complex that we can’t comprehend it. No, in fact, it’s quite simple. Sadly, even most Christians don’t even know the answer.

You don’t have to search for it

Here’s a second observation. Not only is God’s purpose in the world knowable, you don’t have to search for it. You won’t find the answer in philosophy and speculation—God has revealed his purpose to us. It’s been made known. Isn’t that a great truth?  The mystery of the universe has been made known to us! We don’t have to wonder, to speculate, to fear, to question; God has revealed his purpose to us! The only way to discover the “meaning of life” is through the revelation of it provided in God’s word.

 

Toward a Missional Understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose, a (re)Introduction, or John Piper May or May Not be a Moose

Time for my “semi-annual” post. I’m sure all six of you that read this thing have been very disapointed in the lack of activity on the ol’ blog. So here, finally, is part two of my series on God’s Eternal Purpose. All the content for this series  is written, so now the only question is whether or not I will actually post it in a timely manner!

 

Toward a Missional Understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose Part II

If you got a problem, yo I'll solve it.

Yesterday I scribbled some introductory thoughts concerning the way we understand scripture. I proposed that God’s Eternal Purpose should inform our interpretation of the entire scriptural narrative. I also said that it is only after understanding God’s Eternal Purpose could we go on to understand our OWN purpose (for, after all, we were made to be in his image, and the task of the Christian disciple is to become more and more like his/her rabbi Jesus).

In order to do this I got a little prophetic and pointed out (albeit mildly) that maybe the most historical and beloved conception of man’s purpose is skewed because it doesn’t take this conversation into account. Yikes.

So, this morning I’d like to clarify a bit of what I was trying to say yesterday. Upon reflection I realized that some may think I was trying to undermine or belittle the first question of the Shorter Catechism. By no means! I greatly appreciate the entire Catechism, especially the first question. I have been influenced by John Piper in my appreciation of this formulation inasmuch as he emphasises the joy associated with glorifying God with out rives.

However, I do think we need to be recalibrated to understand scripture in light of God’s Eternal Purpose. And though the formulation “Man’s Chief End=Enjoy God+ Glorify Him Forever” is helpful, it doesn’t flesh out the “how.” How are we to enjoy and glorify God, and how does this relate to God’s Eternal Purpose?

In order to answer this question, I believe we must go back to the Garden. But before we do that, I’d like to return to Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians where we find the clearest explanation of God’s Eternal Purpose.

 

Toward a Missional Understanding of God’s Eternal Purpose Part 1

In March of 2008 I undertook a study of Ephesians with the junior high and high school students I work with. It was exactly a year later that we finally concluded our study. I didn’t intend to take a year studying Paul’s letter to the Ephesians…it just happened.

 

…emerging from slumber…

Hi again.

At One-Eighty we’ve been studying the parables using an awesome film series. With possibly one exception, all of the films are well made, are minimal in the cheesy acting department, and are generally free of the stigma associated with Christian film. “Modern Parables” stick closely to the Biblical text, rarely taking liberties. In fact, in their modern interpretations of Jesus’ parables, rarely do their own interpretations sneak into the film itself in any overt way. To be certain, film is like any art and by necessity draws upon the worldview and intent of its creator. Suffice it to say, however, that there is nothing heavy hand

ed about “Modern Parables.” Like Jesus stories, they leave the interpretation left to your own openness to the Holy Spirit (well, and the pastors that are featured in separate “teaching videos. Incidentally, the “teaching” videos are almost completely extraneous. Our group of teenagers did fine in a discussion without them! To tell the truth, I don’t always agree with the pastors’ interpretations anyway.

Check out their website. You can view the movies online. I highly reccomend both Samaritan, and Prodigal Sons.

UPDATE: We watched Prodigal Sons last night. The film was very powerful to me, but for some reason I think it was lost on the students. For my part there is nothing more dramatic than seeing the return of the prodigal and the older brother’s hissy fit.

 

Five Favorite Sites/Blogs of 2008

5) http://www.intothehill.com: This one comes at the bottom of the list only in the interest of absolute objectivity, since, I am a contributor. Into the Hill, if you aren’t going there religiously already, is a great source of independent music and movie news, reviews, and general hilarity in the form of their resident, extremely good-looking cartoonist.

4) http://www.sheldoncomics.com: My new favorite webcomic is just too cute. Dave Kellet is forging a new path for an old medium. His strip is reminiscent of classics like Calvin and Hobbes.

3) http://www.emusic.com: cheap, cheap, cheap, indie music. Gotta love it.

2) http://www.noisetrade.com: another way to get good indie music, sometimes for free, is by spamming your friends. That’s always fun. Do it here.

1) http://www.maplemountain.blogspot.com: My smarty-pants cousin takes the top spot this year for his blog about God, art, and Jack Handey quotes. SD Smith knows how to keep me interested, and how cool it is to refer to yourself in an abreviated way.

 

Proof I am an Old Man

Sally Jesse Raphael

In my latest Miracle Valley over at Into the Hill, I prove I am now officially an old fart (at the tender age of 24) by getting all nostalgic.

 

What has been keeping me so busy, and an announcement…

Alright. So there was a flurry of comic postings not long ago. Suddenly I had rediscovered my lost love of cartooning. You may have noticed that those have greatly tapered. Here’s why.

I’ve been spending all my cartooning time not on writing more gag panels (though I will continue to do so eventually) but on developing an ongoing webcomic. The comic will eventually appear on the WWW. Not here, either. It will get a site all its own.

So consider this an announcement.

And a preview.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of character design lately. Here is, in all his blurry wonder, the star of the show, as presently conceived. Ladies and gentlemen I give you SKUNK THE SKUNK.

Look for The Misguided Misadventures of Skunk the Skunk sometime around the new year. Cumbersome title, eh? Yeah, well, that’s how I roll.

Thanks for faithfully stopping by. I greatly appreciate your time.

p.s. if anyone out there wants to help me with the web stuff, I’d love to hear from you.

p.p.s. I’m meeting with the editor of three local publications tomorrow. Looks like some more possible sales…