Following Judah's Lion

Jesus Our Life

Eph.1:15-23 - Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

The Apostle Paul prays for the believers in Ephesus concerning many rich and sacred truths which we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But notice the prerequisite mentioned in verse 18. Before we can see and understand these truths the “eyes of our understanding” must be enlightened. But I suggest a prerequisite to that enlightenment must be a thirst and desire to have our hearts enlightened.

But let us take a step back and see how all these spiritual truths are related and how they are come together as one. Look at verse 17 where the Spirit through Paul states that the spirit of wisdom and revelation, which will give us understanding and appreciation for all these truths, is caught up in the knowledge of Him! It is majestically simple and yet gloriously profound.

II Cor.1:20 - For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

And how often has the church, to her shame and detriment, made doctrinal truths so very complicated and by implication recreate the Roman Catholic view in days past that only the learned and clergy can truly understand the Scriptures? But in fact, everything both swirls around and is found completely in Christ! The Lord Himself exhorted us to learn of Him and in so doing we will find both Him and His will for us. We have seminars and sermon series about marriage and finances and prophecy and morality and all sorts of doctrinal tributaries, but how often do we hear a three month sermon series about Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith?
All truth emanates from and returns to the Person of Jesus the Christ. Why has He become an aside in evangelical circles? We have exalted abortion and traditional marriage and earthly freedom above the Lord Jesus Himself. We are called the “religious right” because the evangelical church has championed “conservative” issues, but when are we persecuted because we remind people of Jesus, hence the origin of the moniker “Christian”? What kind of conduit for the Spirit would the church be if we were an irritant to this culture because we were so humble, so loving, so prayerful, so gracious, and lived in such moderation that we reminded people of Jesus, or at least manifested a stark contrast to the hedonism championed in such a culture? And perhaps, like the irritant inside of an oyster, God could use us to produce pearls.

Instead, we are viewed as religious relics that are intransigent morally, capitalists at heart, and generally living an existence that cannot be distinguished from the lifestyles of those who have opposing ideas. And in a display which undermines the very heart of our faith, we seek to be entertained by those who deny the Christ while those who deny Him would never set foot into our gatherings. That in and of itself represents a deep compromise if not an observable hypocrisy. But the greatest and most grievous compromise is how we have allowed the influence of the fallen world to affect our faith and more specifically to move us from being steadfast in loving, serving, and preaching the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus must always be our message, our hope, and indeed our very life! We must not have a compartmentalized “devotional life”, but our life must be lived completely as devotional. Shame on those evangelical leaders who appear on television shows because others want to know about their views on moral and political issues. Go ahead and make the case that you can squeeze in a word or two about Jesus, but all you do is cloud the issue and in many respects deceive yourself. It is time we recognize that true evangelism must be done on a neighborhood basis and it must be empowered by Christ reflecting believers and not catchy phrases or circus acts.

Is it not extremely odd that the church of Jesus Christ must be guided back to the Master whose name adorns their faith? Not just returning to a Christ centered theology, but a Christ consuming life. Instead of seeking His face, we have eviscerated any mystery and implemented creeds and councils and statements of faith that have morphed into conscience salves which breed self righteousness and false spiritual contentment. So instead of creeds being a useful form of explanation they have become an end in and of themselves. And instead of being breathing imitators of Jesus Himself, we are content to allow written doctrinal statements to represent the Christ we claim to follow.

But we are called to be crucified with Christ, and the life we live must be His and not ours. That goes far beyond and profoundly deeper than certain belief systems. That requires a certain and daily death. Did you rise this morning determined to die to yourself and release the life of Jesus Christ through your mortal body? And when you stumble and fail to represent Him, does it grieve your soul and drive you to heartfelt repentance? How often do the little foxes activate your flesh and dilute the Spirit through you? Do you walk in the overall landscape of eternity or do you allow the temporal to override the eternal? Do the irritants of one day obliterate the glory of the days without end?

The greatest value that any life can have is knowing Jesus as Lord and Redeemer, and the depth of that experience can only be enhanced by striving to know Him more intimately. How it must grieve the Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ, to see how many believers punch their salvation ticket and then live as if Christ was a future figment of some ethereal Bible study. How much of His glory and presence have we sacrificed upon the altar of self, circumstances, and the dictates of this present world?

Spurgeon once observed that when we see the Risen Christ we will “think ourselves a thousand fools to have ever desired anything in this present world but Him!” Sometimes deception can be most obvious but is so hidden. When will the church, collectively and individually, open our eyes and discover that we are grazing in foreign pastures that do not nourish, that do not edify, and that are not shepherded by the Great Shepherd? As the Apostle wrote through the Spirit,

For me to live is Christ.

Lord, please do in us what we cannot do in ourselves.