| << | Contents | >> |
The Ephesian Connection
Many Christians think of the gospel primarily in terms of the forgiveness of their sins so that they can go to heaven when they die. Of course, receiving God’s forgiveness is crucial for us if we would participate in His purpose. But His objective for us has to do with this life as well as gaining heaven when we die.
In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
God has predestined us to the adoption as sons (Greek, HUIOTHESIA). This word comes from two Greek words, HUIOS – sons and THESIS – placement. So HUIOTHESIA could also be translated as the placement of sons. In part, this term refers to discovering and stepping into our place in God’s family. And we took our first step in this process when we repented of our sins and received the Holy Spirit. By His grace, we became children of God.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children [Greek, TEKNON – ones born] of God.
To be born of the Spirit happens in a moment but the process of discovering and then functioning fruitfully in our unique place in His family is a process that will unfold over time. If God’s plan was simply to get us into heaven, then why did He not just take us there when we first believed? While there would have been no chance to backslide, neither would there have been opportunities in this life to mature in His character, to bear spiritual fruit, and to extend His kingdom on earth. Simply put, our inheritance has to do with this life as well as the one to come.
you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance.
Even as a down payment on a new car is the first portion of payments to follow, so also the indwelling Holy Spirit is the beginning of glories to come. In drinking of Him, we have tasted...the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5).
But if we misunderstand the first taste of our inheritance, we may miss His full intent for us in this life. He has poured out His Spirit into our hearts that we might lay hold of our inheritance, that we might mature spiritually, and discover our unique place in His family. But we often settle for less than God’s best.
One of Satan’s tactics has been to convince us that our faith has to do primarily with the past or the future – God moved in great power in the book of Acts and He will do so again at Christ’s return. But we are not to expect very much from Him in the present. Until then, we are to simply sit and wait patiently for Him to someday manifest His glory. In other words, we are to study the past while we wait for the future. This makes the Church Age to be almost a great irrelevant “parenthesis” in which God only looks on silently. But nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus said:
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
The context of His words makes it very clear that He was not referring to His return at the end of Church history but to His present ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Church is not an orphanage (a home for children without parents); we are the family of God. But to the degree that we do not receive and submit to His present work in our midst, we begin to functionally resemble a spiritual orphanage. Again, if the Holy Spirit is God present with us, then we must specifically welcome Him in our midst. If we do not, spiritual leaders will begin to function simply as caretakers of an institution and believers will fail to discover the present aspect of their inheritance.
But the Scriptures promise us something far greater than an orphanage; we are God’s family, His household. If the primary difference between a family and an orphanage is the active presence of a parent/parents, then we must ask Him if we have substituted anything for His operative parental presence in our midst. For example, a degree in theology is no substitute for His present power when we speak from His word. Clearly, a degree in theology is not necessarily bad, but it can never replace the Lord’s presence in our words.
What we seek is His approval of our serving in His house. And Heaven’s standards are not based on human criteria. To the degree that we substitute any benchmark other than God’s, we have an orphanage. And we are telling Him that we do not need His perspective on the matter.
It was from this mindset that the Pharisees confronted Jesus during His earthly ministry. “You are a very interesting man but You don’t fit into our program.” Their religious system though filled with all manner of solemn and many times even biblical activities was an orphanage. The glory of the Father was not in their midst. And when He reached out to them in His Son, they found Him too upsetting to their usual way of functioning. The cost seemed too high for them to make the transition into family. Too much would have to change for God to be at home in their midst. Many believers today attend a specific local church because they feel at home there. But the primary question is how at home He feels. How well does He fit in? The Pharisees settled for a religious system while God Himself came to offer them family.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold your house is being left to you desolate!”
Notice, the temple was being left desolate as Jesus departed (Matthew 24:1). The glory and the presence of God were leaving. And most people did not understand the significance.
Church history is the repeated story of the Lord coming to His people in the power of His Holy Spirit for the purpose of establishing His family. Since we are His household, He must be central – His presence filling His home. When we gather, it is so that we might grow in our love for Him and for each other. But if we do not give Him His rightful place in our midst, we will find ourselves increasingly comfortable as we function according to our own ways. And similar to when Jesus walked out of the temple, we will not even notice when He slips out the door. I am not referring to believers losing their salvation, but losing direction in the process of finding their unique place in God’s family.
Today, God is drawing His children together around His own presence. The Spirit that we have received places sons (HUIOTHESIA) in His family. Each of us has noticed an inner tugging toward intimacy with Christ and with His people. That inner drawing is God’s longing within us for the practical reality of His family on earth.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons [HUIOS] of God.
Notice the consequence of the Spirit’s leading these sons of God.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons [HUIOTHESIA] by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit of God is leading each of us into our unique placement in His family whereby we cry out in recognition and enjoyment of His fatherhood. Here is our destiny; it is our pre-destiny.
In love He predestined us to adoption as sons [HUIOTHESIA] through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.
Search Comments
This page has been visited 0019 times.
| << | Contents | >> |
10 per page