April 3, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. Find out what pleases the Lord.” (Ephesians 5.8-10)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

The last phrase in Ephesians 5.7 was not meant to be a suggestion from Paul. It represented the strongest possible “word” from Paul to the Ephesian community of faith in Jesus as the Christ. It said, “Do not be partners with them.” With who? Who had Paul told them not to partner with? In the simplest terms it was not to partner with “empty words.” Those empty words represented false teachings of the world and even those which existed inside their community of faith. Paul often had to address “the faithful” with those who taught only partial truths influenced by a desire to sound near enough to the world so as not to fully and completely alienate “the old way of life.” In a recent editorial cartoon a speaker asked for a show of hands asking “How many of you want change?” Nearly everyone had their hand raised. Then the speaker asked, “How many of you want to change?” Not one hand was raised. There is a vast difference between a desire to see changes in the world around us and seeing that such changes may well start with a change in us. Jesus taught “Judge not unless you have a willingness to be judged yourself.” He added, “It is difficult to remove a splinter from the eye of a neighbor when you have a piece of lumber protruding from your own.” The same was probably true in the Ephesus as it was in Troas, Laodicea, Philippi, Rome and even Jerusalem. The same is probably true in the world today including each one of us. In order to support our indecision to be fully faithful, we cling on to “the empty words” of others and speak them ourselves so we sound and look like them. We must not confuse the truth that Jesus was the Incarnate Word of God with the assumption that just because He was God now in flesh appearing He was “just like one of us.” Only at the very end of His life as He hung nailed to the cross with each breath drawing nearer to His last did Jesus empty Himself completely to become like one of us just as we were and as we are.

I was reminded in a devotional study this morning of the wisest of all people on earth, Solomon. When given the opportunity to ask for anything in the world from God, Solomon chose wisdom. We can read many examples of wise decisions Solomon made and the fruit of them in the building up of the Temple in Jerusalem and of Israel. Yet, in all his wisdom, Solomon was just like his father: far from perfect. In his older age, he violated the covenant made with God “not to partner with them.” He married wives not of the Jewish faith. He allowed himself to succumb to be more politically aligned in his service to Israel than spiritual in tune in his service to God. He allowed himself to be convinced that if it was good enough for him it had to be good enough for God. He emptied himself of sincere faithfulness to God’s wisdom and fell prey to the emptiness which the world offered. Haven’t we done this ourselves? Haven’t we surrendered the wisdom which comes from knowing and walking with Jesus Christ to taking a walk on the wild side or the wrong side? Haven’t we convinced ourselves that “just a little” can’t hurt. I remember one of Jesus’ warnings to the disciples where He said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. It takes just a little hypocrisy to give rise to a life that cannot satisfy.” Just a little hypocrisy like just a little yeast can make a lump of dough puff up. For those who know about breadmaking, once the dough puffs up it must be punched down to break down the pockets of air that build up inside. Such punching down restores the balance of the dough, yeast and sugars so that the mixture will be a good loaf of bread. What the Pharisees thought they were doing in confronting Jesus and His words was punching Him down in order to restore their sense of balance. They were not willing to partner with Him. He was not willing to partner with them. Even Solomon was reticent to be disciplined. Even his father David had walked on that “wild side” with Bathsheba. It was the prophet Nathan who “punched him down” and brought him back into balance. Balance came with a price. That price was the death of the son born to David and Bathsheba. Having repented of his sin against God and Bathsheba’s husband Uriah, David married Bathsheba and they had another son- Solomon. Sadly, there are times when the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Mighty ones of God, we are in need of being “punched down,” having the wind knocked out of our sails, and put in proper balance. We are not of the darkness though we may certainly dwell in darkness. We are of the light and the light is full of the goodness of God. In fact, the light is such that the darkness cannot overwhelm it even when it casts a large shadow. Let us remember how easily a light can cause the dark to flee. Just with the flick of a switch, the strike of a match or the tap and a swipe on a screen can illuminate a dark room and restore a sense of peace. We are called to partner with the light of the world who is Jesus the Christ. We are called to be like Him who only in a momentary death was just like us. As we are filled with His words that exude true meaning and purpose with faith, hope and love, we can be just like Him not merely for a moment but for all time. It is a matter of who we decide to partner with that determines the fruit that we shall bear. Will it be the fruit of light: goodness, righteousness and truth? Or will it be with the fruit of darkness: hypocrisy, greed and falsehoods?

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.