April 2, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.  Therefore, do not be partners with them.” (Ephesians 5.5-7)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

There is that way that the “idolaters” can deceive others with empty words. It is with the simple acknowledgment that the meaning, that from the very root of the word itself as it was born into the world is “null and void, without shape and form, voiceless and lifeless.” If that sounds familiar to you, then it should as it was the very description God provided Moses to help him see what his world was before God spoke life into being. It is impossible to imagine this life before God created the heavens and the earth. In fact, it causes me to realize that before I was, God was and that before there was the ordered and orderly “heavens and the earth” God was still. It would lead me to acknowledge that even in the darkness, in the chaotic vortex of all the elements, all that was was God’s. There was nothing, is nothing and never will be anything that was not of God nor anything that wasn’t God’s. This ought to be a comfort to us in those times of our lives when the darkness looms and seeks to consume the light. Even now, there is a great anticipation across the heartland of the United States for the experience of a total solar eclipse. I have experienced total darkness before deep inside Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and in Natural Bridge Caverns near San Antonio, Texas. Deep inside the “belly of the earth,” the lights along the paths and in a certain large room were turned off. There were no flashlights, lanterns, cellphones or lighters put into use at that moment. It was dark. It was not the dark of midnight where even in the background of the heavens where stars, planets, moons and other astronomic entities can reflect the light of the sun as it burns brightly on the other side of the world. There was no light to be reflected or refracted in those deep wells of darkness. You cannot even see a hand in front of your face. There is nothing there for the eye to capture and form an image. And yet, you can hear talking and breathing. You can see some nervousness in others, as well as perhaps yourself, to be in such a place. Still, the “word of God” as it was revealed to David remains true: there is no place where God is not. Where God is there is meaning and purpose and opportunity.

Still, we know that the Enemy of God and humanity is at work to “suck the life” out of the word that is revealed to and given to us for our benefit by God. If God’s word was empty and void, then why would the Enemy work so hard at denying even its very presence? If the Enemy of God believes that God and God’s people are seeking to deceive others with “empty words,” then why should he care? They might echo around in the canyons of our heart, mind and soul like rocks kicked over the edge fading into nothingness but little more than that. Well, nothing more than that unless you are at the bottom of that chasm or abyss under the rain of “meaningless” stones. Are they meaningless after all? Are they purposeless after all? There is a bit of humor and gest in Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and Temple leaders who urged Him to quieten the disciples on that triumphant parade into Jerusalem at the start of Holy Week. Their hope was that in quieting the disciples then the crowd would quieten as well and focus more on the events at hand in preparation for the Passover. It was their way of seeking to deny the content of the words “Hosanna. Glory to God in the highest. Prepare the way of the Lord, the Son of David, who comes to take away the sins of the world.” If they were just not said, then the message would fall on deaf ears. But, Jesus answered back with a wisdom worthy of the ages. He said, “Even if I would silence the disciples and thus bring the crowd to a standstill, even the very rocks on the side of the road would cry out the truth which is evident to all.” If the Pharisees and the Temple rulers didn’t believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, or entertain the possibility of truth, then why work so hard to keep the truth silenced or the lie? It was the work of the Enemy of God and humanity which empowered and influenced their speech. Their accusations of Jesus being in league with the Devil were now mere reflections of themselves. And when Jesus calls them “sons of vipers,” He is leveling charges of them being the ones in league with the “chief of Serpents- Satan.”

So, when Paul urges the Ephesian community of faith in Jesus as the Christ to beware of the “empty words” of the idolaters and to not be in relationship with them, he is speaking in spiritual terms. Those “empty words” were not devoid of meaning nor purpose. However, those “empty words” were not filled with the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit which gives means and purpose to all things. Doesn’t the Word of God say, “All things work together for good in those who love the Lord their God; to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8.28) God is at work in the contrast of concepts: light and dark, land and water, earth and sky, life and death, heaven and hell, kingdom of God and kingdom of humanity, right and wrong, success and failure, good and evil, light and dark. Those “empty words” Paul speaks of are those words which seek to work against the will of God. They want to supplant and eliminate all opportunity to know God and grow into the image in which each of us was made intentionally even before we were formed in the womb (regardless of how the conception came into being…and that includes those sad and heinous means as well.) As followers of Christ, mighty ones of God in Christ Jesus, we are to be bound by words that are full of meaning and purpose as God intends. Paul issues the challenge for all believers to investigate the words of their hearts and the meditations of their minds to evaluate and discern if they are of God, for God and with God. In no small measure, we can ask at this point, “Are our words Immanuel?” If they are not, then why are we saying them, acting them out, sharing them with others and putting our lives on the line for them? And why are we connecting ourselves with those who put their faith, hope and love in those “empty words”?

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit spoke us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.