April 19, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Find out what pleases the Lord. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the Church; His body of which He is the Savior. Now as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5.10; 22, 23,24)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I have suggested three worldly consequences of sin in these reflections: making people stupid (forsaking obedience and wisdom), the absence of listening (embracing the hearing of our own self above all others) and slavery to passion (the absence of reason and authentic purpose.) As these reflections are a part of my time to consider God’s Word and listen for the instruction of His Holy Spirit, I only pray that in the sharing of them with others they might be invoked to consider what God’s Word is saying to them instructionally, with discernment and conviction and with the hope of strengthening the walk of discipleship. From the beginning of these reflections in the summer of 2006, the intention was to offer a place for “men of God” to take that deep dive into what makes for a more godly man. I was convicted myself of falling short of that call after the loss of two jobs and struggling to find my place of purpose at home, at work and in the community of faith. I was not an apostate. I felt and feel very much connected to God and believe He has a purpose for my life in this world regardless of which circle of influence I may be in at the time. I believed and continue to believe that a significant tool in “making it through these days” is a man of God among mighty men of God. I am not talking about those fellowship gatherings initiated under the banner of “Mens’ Group” or even many of the worship services in local congregations, house churches and communities of faith around the world. I believe we can all see the danger of “social” gathering and call it “discipleship training.” I wonder at times if “discipleship training” is really even the goal and objective. More so as this world progresses we buy into the value of “social gathering” first and once that is established as a priority being met then we might have time to talk about Jesus and our walk with Him. So, when I speak of the three consequences of sin as I did above and for the past several days it is with these experiences in mind. I am not condemning them. I affirm their value. I also have a concern, however, that the “going and growing deeper” challenge is not so readily encouraged, empowered and engaged. Under the guise of “you can choose,” the challenge is then offered as if the need for being a super Christ-follower is the prerequisite.

Paul, the former Saul of Tarsus, was certainly not that when his journey started. Let me amend that statement with this observation: Saul of Tarsus was certainly a pursuer of Christ-followers who were pursuing Christ within the fellowship of faith, hope and love. He “followed” them relentlessly. His journey to Damascus was not his first incursion into Judea and the rest of the world following the pattern of the Great Commission given to the first disciples and the community of faith in which they lived. I consider that with the Great Commission and the anointing for such ministry on the Day of Pentecost, those eleven disciples plus Matthias who was chosen afterward to complete the Circle of Twelve after Judas hanged himself, each went into their own homes and communities to first serve. Many of them may have had their wives and children with them during that three year journey, we do not know. We do know of the community of 120 which existed during Jesus’ earthly ministry to raise up “the Church” in the midst of Israel, Judea and the reaches of the world. But, as in all things, it began at home. First to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. Not because one was better or worse than the other was this pattern established. It was because of the “hierarchy” of calling which God had established when He created humankind and established in Adam and Eve the first faith community. Their descendants were called Hebrews and later Jews. The revelation of God’s Word to the world outside of the Garden and beyond the Flood was to be shared by them, through them and with them. It was because of sin that the ultimate purpose of bringing all people to a chosen awareness and love for God was mutated. How?

1) With stupid ideas of domination and comparison: egoism.

2) With assumptive listening based on what the flesh needed more than the spirit yearned.

3) With the establishment of feeling over faith or worse- feeling was faith.

The Church was and is supposed to be different from the Temple and the Synagogue (little temples.) The Temple had bound itself to the “letter” of the Law. Psalm 119 is a reflection of that thinking literally as each stanza of eight lines begins with the letter of the Jewish alphabet (aleph-bet); twenty-two letters with eight stanzas equals 176 verses. It represents a literary walk through the Law of the Lord. But the “letter” of the Law was never meant to supersede or replace the “spirit” of the Law. Through time, the treatises of “religious” Israel became the objectives which equated with righteousness. Such was the thinking of 613 commands, rules, regulations which validated one’s level of righteousness. Such accountability is unfathomable. Only One person could fulfill all the requirements of the Law including the law of sacrifice to cover the sins of all God’s people. The Church, I believe, was and is intended to represent the “spirit” of the Law and by it we find that fulfilling the Law of God becomes more and more apparent. So, too, then does the works of the Law become apparent as the manifestations of righteousness in right relationship, in right direction and in right spirit. It matters then that when Paul declares in 5.24 “Now as the Church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything,” he is not speaking as if the Church, the existing community of faith, has accomplished the call and thus becomes the exemplar to say “see what I or we have done” (that would be stupid ego) or to present itself as the oracle of true faith (listen to me instead of see how listening to God manifests itself (assumptive listening) or to propose that how we “feel” about each other is the modicum of faith we are called to rise up to (a slavery to passion of the flesh). Instead, Paul is calling all of our relationships in all of our circles of influence to stand alongside each other guided by the same principle of authentic love, that is- being submissive to the Word, Will and Spirit of God. Jesus is the examplar of that principle and we are called to be His disciples working together to manifest that principle as well in the Church and through the Church into all the world…starting at home.

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 brought 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.