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Mercy, Grace, Kindness, Love

The Love of God and God's Purpose for Creation

Weapons of Light

2/14/2021

 
Ephesians 6:12 NRSV 
For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

How seriously do you take this verse? It can not be easily passed over. It carries great implications for the follower of Jesus Christ in Paul's day. I believe it also carries great implications for followers even in our modern times. Is our struggle against flesh and blood? There are a few other places were Paul makes it clear how we must treat others, even our enemies, with love. Today the larger population of believers, who are citizens of God's kingdom, would say that we are struggling with enemies of flesh and blood, every day. They would be correct, at least in the false reality that is the narrative of our worldly system. We are continually at war with one nation or the other without going into facts and figures which can easily be found. We know that we are. We struggle on every level of human existence in every conceivable way either physically, verbally, or otherwise. Such struggles seem to be at the very core of humanity. It seems inconceivable that we would ever just rest in peace apart from death.

As "new creatures in Christ", are we right in our struggles? Are we justified? The answers seem so complex but perhaps they are too much so. I can not answer for you or anyone else and many, if not most, would think I am incorrect and for various theological reasons would disagree with me. I take the words, "For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh" to mean that I have no struggle, whatsoever, against any human being anywhere on this planet. This has not always been my thought but it is now and I take it more seriously with each passing day. 

It is hard to see this when much of Christianity is wrapped up in the politics of the worlds system more than they are in Jesus. Violence is an accepted means of resolving issues on every level of our society from abortion to the mass destruction of other nation's peoples. We always find reasons to justify our actions on each violent level. We are very good at this, it comes with cold, hard, efficiency. Not that we do not have second, third, or even fourth thoughts and various types of planning, but when it comes down to it, we act with singular purpose. Perhaps we really are not ready for true discipleship at any cost. Many that have come before us were prepared, at any cost, and many paid it for the sake of the light.

What about the verses that follow? Paul describes the weapons of war against cosmic powers as weapons that were used in his time. The mention of these weapons is not in some way condoning their use, but are to offer some idea of the seriousness of the battle being waged. Paul had no thought of the reader picking up a sword and fighting a corresponding earthly enemy that mirrored a celestial beast. No, Paul had in mind that they dropped their weaponry, of any kind, right then and there and pick up weapons of light to fight the real battle. For me, it is absolutely certain that this is the case today as well.  

Faith, the gospel of peace, salvation, truth, and righteousness, these are weapons of light. They are weapons of offense and defense as are a sword and shield. Light overcomes darkness. How does this happen? Darkness was found in Genesis 1 and God overcame it with a word, "let there be light", and it was defeated. A picture of this is given in creation, the spinning of our world to bring day and night. The Psalmists reflects that the night is sorrowful but joy is coming with the rising sun. Throughout the bible we find the play between light and darkness. I believe this battle was at it's peak in Jesus and Paul's day; about to come to a dramatic conclusion.

Romans 12:20-21 The Passion Translation  
And: If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch! Win him over with kindness. For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience, and God will reward you with favor.  (21)  Never let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

When you fight evil with evil, sword against sword, then evil wins, always. I know this translation might sound simplistic, but isn't that the idea? The road to conflict has early beginnings, opportunities that must not be squandered. It would be mistaken to expect, as a human being, that evil will never be used to fight evil in the world. It is our duty as followers of Jesus Christ to be different than the world, it is our duty to fight evil with good. The duty is serious, it is hard, and it is expected.

Paul relies on the Shema in the next chapter of Romans, 13:10. 'Love my neighbor as myself'. 

Romans 13:10-12 The Passion Translation
Love makes it impossible to harm another, so love fulfills all that the law requires.  (11)  To live like this is all the more urgent, for time is running out and you know it is a strategic hour in human history. It is time for us to wake up! For our full salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  (12)  Night’s darkness is dissolving away as a new day of destiny dawns. So we must once and for all strip away what is done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes. And once and for all we clothe ourselves with the radiance of light as our weapon.

What urgency! The time running out! Wake up and shed the darkness, stand against it clothed in light. In the NRSV and others Paul tells them to take up weapons of light. Walk in the light. Shine as lights in the world. The old ways are quickly coming to an end, embrace the new ways. Only light could defeat the failing darkness, not swords and shields. If we are still in such times, as most of Christianity believes, then why are we still using weapons of death and destruction? Have we lost our nerve? If the times Paul described in Romans 13:10-12 are past, then why are we yet again taking up with weapons of darkness? Why are we, as believers, still using evil to defeat evil? Of course the unbeliever will use darkness, they have not come to the truth of Jesus Christ. But we have and therefore we should stand out of the darkness. God forbid that we would even dare to use scripture to justify such actions. 

The cost of true discipleship can be very high. Jesus showed us how high it could be. Jesus walked the path before us and many others after him followed in obedience. We must cut the ties that bind us to the ways of the world in darkness, on every level. May the cross always be before us, not in the way the world might use it but always in the way that Jesus did making the ultimate sacrifice, in love for every other human being he laid down his life. The very character of God on display for all the world to witness. The very character that is ours to make known.

I believe that God created us, as I mentioned before, to have a fighting spirit in our very core. But not a fight with words or weapons of death and darkness. God gave us a desire to fight injustice, hunger, sickness and disease, unrighteousness, sorrow and sadness, and every other form of darkness. We must fight though, as Jesus did, with light. 

A Simple Reality

2/13/2021

 
Often, I wonder if I really know who God is. Do I know him, can I know him? So many times God is thought of as mysterious, beyond total knowledge. When bad things happen it is often said that we just need to accept that it is all part of God's bigger plan. But is this correct? Is this how God wants it to be? Does God want to be known? I believe God does want to be known and that there is a way by which we can know him.

John 14:7-11 NRSV 
If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."  (8)  Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."  (9)  Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  (10)  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  

"Show us the Father". I wonder if you have ever prayed in asking God to reveal himself to you. Many have. I have read of peoples desire to know God. I am fairly certain that I have heard people pray this way. It is definitely an excellent request. We should desire this, just as Philip did. Jesus responds to him then, and the Father might be responding to us now, "do you still not know me?". They did not. They had yet to see the greatest work that the Father, through the Son, would perform. It is in that work, coupled with the body of work performed during the life of Jesus, that we truly know the Father, know God. That work was the cross. Through the cross we know God.

John 14:19-20 NRSV 
In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.  (20)  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Philip, and everyone else that comes to the Father, through Jesus and his cross, will be in Jesus the Christ who is in the Father. Jesus the Christ will be in them, in us. Does this give new meaning to God "all in all"? On that day you will know. On that day you will know me, you will know the Father. That day was coming "in a little while". It was coming very soon and they would know it and experience the reality that is the Father, the reality that is true life. We can know.

We can know God through our experience as children of God on this earth. I believe we can know God today if we could only put the cross before every experience, no matter how small or inconsequential we think it might be. Paul thought of teaching nothing else than Christ and the cross to the Corinthians. Paul spoke in Philippians about being able to know Christ and his sufferings and resurrection. Knowing Christ means knowing God. We can know God, through Christ, just as he said to the disciples in John 14. 

Philippians 3:10 The Passion Translation  
And I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus more fully and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me. I will be one with him in his sufferings and I will be one with him in his death.

To be one with him in his death means life as it was meant to be lived (read Philippians 2:5-11). This perfectly illustrates the Shema (Hear O' Israel). Love of God, to be experienced through every part of life. Love of others, to be experienced in every relationship, in every interaction. God is our reality. We are in God. God is in us. So, I think asking God in prayer that we might know him is not asking for a mysterious revelation, it is asking that God would make himself known to us in our everyday experience by showing love through us. That, I believe, is the reality set before the believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Not easy for sure, but those moments we are in the reality of knowing God we will know it and will want even more. That is what Paul was saying, "I want to know him". That is what Jesus wanted us to understand, a simple reality.


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