Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:1, 2

The phrase that caught my attention this morning is in Paul’s greeting to the believers in Ephesus.  Not long, just 5 words – the faithful in Christ Jesus.  That means, those who are full of faith in Jesus Christ.  They are in Christ Jesus.  They have been moved, by the Spirit of God, into Christ.  That is obviously what it means to be in Christ Jesus. But what does that mean to me?

Am I in Christ?  I see myself as having Jesus in my life.  Seldom do I think of the amazing reality that our lives are hidden, so to speak, in Christ Jesus.  This is possible only as I know in my heart of hearts, and in my deepest emotions, that I am in Christ Jesus.  Of course, it is cause for joy beyond telling that Jesus Christ is in me, but I experience additional joy when I know that I am in Christ Jesus.   I in Him and He in me.  Can there be closer intimacy?

I think about many things when I see myself as a follower of Jesus.  To be honest, too seldom do I sit back and let sink in this unexpected reality that I am in Christ and Christ is in me.  I get hung up far too often on trivia.  I need to value more and more the blessing and joy of this two-person relationship God and me and God with us.  That is the most meaning and powerful relation that can be imagined.  It is the relationship that turns as inner into a saint!

Lord, teach me, deeply, what I already know in my heart.

I have no idea who this fellow is.  Nor do I think it sees with the two “eyes.”  Anyway,  it is fun photographing this little fellow.  At the Lopez farm on Saturday.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Ephesians 1:1

The Ephesian believers are of many cultures – Jewish, Gentiles, Romans, Greeks, easterners, westerners, rich, poor, employers, employees, all living in this great city where trade routes from all directions converged.  As we noted, Paul ministered there for three or more years, following his great missionary journeys, helping the local believers to embrace Jesus Christ while enjoying their own cultures.  It stretches the mind to try to imagine how this worked.

It surely began with the realization that every person who loves Jesus and has been saved by his blood is now a new creature, not taken out of culture, but living with Jesus in their cultures.  But they did not establish cultural-specific communities, but somehow managed to be in the body of Christ in Ephesus.  Paul does not tell us how that worked.  But it obviously did.

Paul did not write to the Jesus-loving Jews only, nor to any other culture for that matter.  He wrote to the saints in Ephesus. Hear his words that open this letter: To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. Eph. 1:1

The important thing for Paul was that they loved Jesus and lived as a holy people in Ephesus.  As each person fixed his or her eyes on Jesus and invited that Jesus into their lives, they were enabled to love one another in Christ despite their cultural differences, we might say.

I suppose this is the ideal.  The reality today is that the church of Jesus Christ is made up of believers who worship in their own idiom yet serve the same Lord.  The challenge we face is to somehow feel part of the great Body of Christ in the world, making that clear to all.

I still enjoy still-life pictures, such as this.  Last week I turned the candle holder that has the red candle in it.  It is pear wood.  I have so many candle holders now that even Anna Ruth is wondering what we shall do with them.  I should think such thoughts as well, but I must admit, I just enjoy seeing the new form taking shape, and all that.  What happens to the holders must concern me more!  O, well.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2 here and there.

It is by grace you have been saved. This is Paul writing!  He was raised as a law – abiding Jewish Pharisee, the strictest of Jewish sects at the time.  Paul was determined to please God by obeying the Law of Moses, a most complicated business, for it includes hundreds of do’s and don’ts from how to wash your hands to what you should wear.  Paul was known as one of the young Jews who was living according to the strictest Jewish group.  As a student in Jerusalem he was an example of a young Jew who wanted all Jews to live absolutely according to the Law of Moses as taught by the Pharisees.  Indeed, he did look like a model of Jewish behavior.

Then, as we recall, Jesus met him and in his mercy saved him.  This turned upside down Paul’s world. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. That included the religious Paul!   By the grace of God, he is saved, not by his strict obedience of the law.  Paul wrote, for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 

This revelation of the mighty grace of God opened Paul to an entirely new understanding of salvation.  If it is true we are saved through faith then the door is open for all to enter – all!  That includes Jews, Gentiles, educated, peasants, rich, all!  As Jesus said, the field is the world!  It takes my breath away.

A happy time on the old Stoltzfus farm at Yellow House where we enjoyed a lovely meal, including Mark’s tasty hams and other good foods.  This has become an annual late Summer event.  We love it!   Note the cows behind the fence!  They milk over fifty.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:1, 2

In his opening sentence, Paul, in his letter to the believers in Ephesus, helps me to focus my attention on the fact that, even though I might not agree with other believers on all points, we all agree that all those who are believers are “holy people.”

The North American section of our denomination is now going through a period of choosing who are brothers and sisters and who come up short, we say.  So, congregations are seeking other congregations, within the denomination, with whom they agree on the issues at hand.

Our denomination has its roots in the 1520’s when we left the Roman Catholic Church.  We dared to hive off.  Now, over 400 years later, we split from one another!  The splits are not on doctrinal issues, so to speak, but on behavioral issues.  But splits they are.  I think we should take a step back and ask ourselves, not about what to disagree on, but how to live together with some differences.  We must decide what we must split on.  I believe in trustworthy discipleship, but I also believe that the Spirit of the Lord is hindered among us because of our strong beliefs about certain practices that make it impossible to live together in peace.

I must look at all believers as holy people in our world today.  I think that is good.  My problem is to look at my denominational brothers and sisters with that same reverence for the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Lord, help us all.  I can hear my mother say that!

The monarch butterflies, our only ones to winter in Mexico, are now feasting on our milkweed, their major food.   This fellow in our garden will probably not get to Mexico. but its children will!  An amazing illustration of persistence and determination.  How about us?

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:1, 2

The phrase that caught my attention this morning is in Paul’s greeting to the believers in Ephesus.  Not long, just 5 words – the faithful in Christ Jesus.  That means, those who are full of faith in Jesus Christ.  They are in Christ Jesus.  They have been moved, by the Spirit of God, into Christ.  That is obviously what it means to be in Christ Jesus. But what does that mean to me?

Am I in Christ?  I see myself as having Jesus in my life.  Seldom do I think of the amazing reality that our lives are hidden, so to speak, in Christ Jesus.  This is possible only as I know in my heart of hearts, and in my deepest emotions, that I am in Christ Jesus.  Of course, it is cause for joy beyond telling that Jesus Christ is in me, but I experience additional joy when I know that I am in Christ Jesus.   I in Him and He in me.  Can there be closer intimacy?

I think about many things when I see myself as a follower of Jesus.  To be honest, too seldom do I sit back and let sink in this unexpected reality that I am in Christ and Christ is in me.  I get hung up far too often on trivia.  I need to value more and more the blessing and joy of this two-person relationship God and me and God with us.  That is the most meaning and powerful relation that can be imagined.  It is the relationship that turns a sinner into a saint!

Lord, teach me, deeply, what I already know in my heart.