Month: November 2017

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 5:25

1 Comment

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

If Paul’s words to wives were tough here, his words to husbands are even more challenging.  Wives are called to submit to their husbands as a function of their prior and larger submission to Christ.  Husbands are called to love their wives after the pattern of Christ’s love for the church.  That, of course, prompts a question: How did Christ loved the church?  Answer: He died for her.  He committed Himself to the last breath to seeing her become fully who God created her to be.  Everything he did was for her benefit.  Every single decision He made was filtered through the lens of whether or not it was going to be to her advantage.  For husbands, this is our standard. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Colossians 1:15-20

Leave a comment

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is one of the most exalted pictures of Jesus in all of the Scriptures.  It is a good reminder that the Jesus we serve and whose birth we will celebrate this next month is not just our friend, He is also our Lord.  Today we often see such an emphasis on Jesus as our friend and our personal Savior who knows us intimately that we lose sight of His glory. Read the rest…

Heaven on My Mind

Leave a comment

In this final part of our series, The Big Story, we take a look at the exciting fourth act of God’s big story: Restoration.  This world is broken in spite of the fact that we live in the time when redemption is available to all those who would receive it.  This dichotomy can lead to endless frustration and even hopelessness if we forget about the fact that there is still one more part to the story.  Read on to learn more about this fourth part and how living in light of it can make our lives now so much better.

Heaven on My Mind

Okay, survey question this morning: how many of you like surprises?  Alright, how many folks are on the opposite end of that scale?  You genuinely don’t like surprises.  What about this: how many folks can handle a surprise if they know it’s coming?  You don’t know what it’s going to be—which is what makes it a surprise—and while you don’t love that you are able to endure the waiting since you at least know something is coming.  Okay, let me change things up just a bit: how many of you are good waiters (and I’m not talking about tables)?  You handle waiting for something you know is coming really well.  You’re certainly excited about it, you just channel that excitement into other things until the day arrives.  Alright then, let’s give the impatient folks a chance to raise their hands since they don’t like waiting: how many of you are terrible waiters when you know something is coming?  You fixate on whatever it is and it’s almost like you can’t do anything else until it arrives.  You’re constantly looking at the calendar, crossing off the days, or checking your watch, counting down the hours. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Proverbs 24:13-14

Leave a comment

“My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.  Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”

When was the last time you enjoyed something good simply because it was good?  So often, if we allow ourselves to experience something good, it is as a stopping point on the way to something else.  The good thing is not the end, but rather part of the means.  This can be especially true for followers of Jesus.  To seek out the experience of something good for no other reason than that it is good feels too self-indulgent.  We are not worth such efforts.  It is selfish.  We don’t deserve such things. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 5:22-24

5 Comments

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Here it is at last.  The gleaming evidence, lit up by a flashing neon sign, pointing to the fact that Paul is now finally letting out his true colors.  He hates women.  He uses the dreaded “S-word” here.  He thinks women should be submitted, subjected, subordinated to men.  He is convinced, just like everybody else in his day, that they are of less value to society than men.  He was laying a foundation of oppression and injustice here that has persisted in the church until today.  Women should be silent and seated at the feet of their men, catering to their every whim, and treating them as if they were the god of the home.  Disgusting!  Why else would he write something like this? Read the rest…