Epaggelia

In and around the second largest city in Iraq is not only a historic site for current events now, but the city of Mosul held thousands of people who had a love for Christ, The city fell to Islamic extremists this past summer. These Christ-loving people feared for their lives and ran away, losing everything but their faith in Christ. In some areas, they were forced to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. Well documented stories are emerging of many of them executed for not renouncing their faith in Christ.

Regardless of what the Bible says about the necessity of baptism, and whether or not I believe it, does not change the fact that the majority of these Christ-loving people were slaughtered without ever being baptized into Christ. This fact speaks volumes about how faith in Christ can be very strong before a person is baptized, because had they been told about it, their self-sacrifice proves they would have done it. But instead of writing about hypothetical situations, I propose to you that their cruel deaths speak to us Christians who have been baptized and shy away from even speaking the name of Christ at work. What has happened to our faith after we were baptized? That question is answered by the reason we were baptized, and also what our purpose for being a Christian is today.

If I was baptized (immersed) for the sole reason of having my own spirit washed clean of sins by the blood of Christ, why would my faith grow weak? Because the absence of sin does not produce any fruit or conviction in what I believe in my spirit. There must be something or someone within me, taking the place of sin. Which introduces the whole subject of God’s Spirit being a gift within a Christian’s spirit. Take time to read Acts 2:37-39 carefully and look at the promised gift. Is it spiritual cleanliness, or is it Christ’s Spirit?

The apostle Paul wrote, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:9-10) These words teach us that a Christian’s spirit envelopes the Holy Spirit. Our purpose for being baptized should be to live with him, not with the flesh. This purpose results in God being very pleased with us!

Do we have any idea what the Spirit of Christ feels or where He is when any Christ-loving person takes on cruelty and death for refusing to renounce Christ? Do we know that strength in the churches of Christ? Lots of people in Iraq don’t just believe in the presence of Christ, they know Him. Do you? What exactly is your purpose for becoming a Christian?

There’s a Lamb in all His Glory
Shining light from Zion’s place,
Where we need no earthly Temple
When we see Him face to face.

Taught and guided by His Spirit
We can enter by his Blood
And upon our faces falling
Where we love the Lamb our God.

When we leave this earthly glory
As no longer living here
Partners in a holy story
There in Heaven we appear.

He redeems our souls within us
Now we bless His Holy Name
To instill in us great mercy
And forever write our name.

Here we worship and adore Him
Lifting up His wondrous grace
By the Lamb once slain for sinners
We will see His glorious state.

In 49 B.C., when the Roman Consul Lentulus recruited Roman citizens in Asia Minor for a military exercise over Pompey, the Jews of Ephesus, were Roman citizens but were exempted from military service because he respected their Jewish laws. This Jewish population in Ephesus did not wane through the years, by the time the Apostle Paul came in about 52 A.D., there was possibly no less than 1,000 Jews in Ephesus, as the historian Josephus uses the words “many hundreds” in reference to the region within that time frame for Ephesus. When Paul preached the gospel of Christ in the synagogue of Ephesus during his first visit to that city (Acts 18:19); Apollos, a learned Jew from Alexandria, assisted by Priscilla and Aquila, proclaimed it in the same place (18:24-26). Paul, on his second visit, again preached in the synagogue; but when some Jews rejected his teaching, he continued elsewhere with Tyrannus. So the letter we have today, must be read in the context of Jewish Christians growing to accept Greek & Egyptian Christians with very little or no understanding of their roots in this new Faith. The revelations Paul makes to us in this letter, would be almost shocking to the first readers. So Paul wrote this to help them both understand what God’s eternal purpose was in Jesus Christ. He identified the church as “in Christ”, using the phrase over 22 times in this short letter. Paul wrote this letter about 10-15 years after he first met them, while he was incarcerated in Rome, so it’s probably around 65 A.D. We know it was Paul who wrote it, because even an early critic (Marcion appx 145A.D.) of Jesus admitted that it was written by Paul. Which makes sense, when you consider it was Paul who spent at least 3 years preaching in Ephesus, Acts 20:31. Who knows them better, for God to instruct them on such vital life changing truths, that needs to be accepted? Here are 8 topics which give us the gist of the entire letter.
1. Heavenly Places, 1:3,20.
2. The Church, 1:1 – 5:29
3. The Walk, 2:2 & 5:2-15
4. Salvation, 2:5-8
5. The New Creation, 2:10-15
6. The Mystery Revealed, 3:3-9
7. Unity in Christ, 4:1-6
8. Spiritual Warfare, 6:10-19

The opening lines of Paul’s teaching entitle all Christians as…
Saints, v1
Faithful, v1
Blessed, v3
Choice, v4
Holy, v4
Blameless, v4
Foreordained & Adopted Children v5

WHY?
To Praise His Grace in the Beloved Christ, v6

Do we praise God for how good He is to us in Jesus Christ?

Blessed are…
…the Poor in Spirit, to possess the Kingdom of Christ 5:3
…those that Mourn, to receive the comfort of Christ 5:4
…the Meek, to inherit creation in Christ 5:5
…the Hungry & Thirsting, to be filled with Christ’s righteousness 5:6
…the Merciful, to be forgiven by Christ 5:7
…the Pure in Heart, to fully know God in Christ 5:8
…the Peacemakers, to be known by others as God’s child in Christ 5:9
…the Persecuted & Mocked for Christ, to prove our discipleship 5:10-11
…those not Offended at Christ, to persevere with Him through trials. 11:6
…the Alert & Faithful ‘doers’, to have Christ’s Reign Now. 24:46-47

To be Blessed is to experience a happiness that is always accessible in prayer & never fades with time, it is a joy that exceeds laughter by a mile, yet seats itself deep in our heart to be fed and seldom seen by the world but can always be felt by the Christian & Christ’s Spirit. The fruit of God’s Spirit in the Christian is “Love, Joy…” & much more (Galatians 5:22) Let it grow and share it with anyone outside of Christ. Blessed was Paul & Silas, chained in a jail cell, singing! (Acts 16:25) When we are tempted & tried, do we pray and sing? Where is our ‘BE ATTITUDE’?

When God announced “Let Us make man” He was revealing his nature, as being plural. The image of God in humanity is spiritual not physical, because God is Spirit, (Jn. 4:24), and His Spirit was over the waters in the creation, 1:2. The plurality of God was active in making us. Unlike worldly kings making many distinctions between themselves and their subjects. A monarch is removed from the rank of the people by princes of royal blood, dukes, earls, barons, viscounts, baronets, knights, esquires; and all kinds of outward appearances, especially on public occasions, as to impress people with their own distance;  All this may be necessary and even useful, where the ruling is human. But in bold contrast with this is the conduct of the supreme Sovereign — God. The King of kings formed His first earthly subjects with affinities between them and Himself most near and intimate.

But our humanity is diseased with sin we commit, and Christ came to give each person the choice to heal this diseased image. Paul tells us that the “new man,” .. is “created after God” — i.e., after the likeness of God — “in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). In another passage he says that we are “renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him” (Colossians 3:10). Knowledge not speculative but practical, holiness not relative but real; knowledge illuminating the mind, holiness governing the heart — the make up, in the apostle’s view, that “image of God” in which He declares that He created us. There are three ways in which we can see our spirituality as emulating God’s spiritual nature.

Firstly, We humans have the POWER to choose. This is different than any other part of God’s creation. God chose to create, mandate, execute and pardon. We as humans, can choose to serve evil or good. Joshua 24:15 states that ultimate choice was made public in ancient Israel. Today in Christ we are asked by the gospel to choose whether or not we will ‘save ourselves from a perverted generation…receive his word…and devote ourselves” Acts 2:40-42.
Secondly, We have the power to make a promise, once we have chosen to confess Christ as our Lord, The promise to repent, and live a life of faithfulness is essential, if we are truly going to change and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. This is made clear in 1st Corinthians 9:27 & Galatians 5:16-18. This helps us cooperate with God in CREATING the change needed in us to help restore His IMAGE.
Thirdly, we as humans have the power to submit to the Lordship of Christ’s Spirit and walk with him, in order to grow the fruit of His Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23. This helps us OWN the change that God makes in us. The nature of God can be seen in these three spiritual attributes, the power to make a choice, the power to create change in repenting, and the power to make a promise and grow. We also see three very often used titles for God’s name in these attributes.
Elohim – God, usually used in the context of CREATOR, Gen. 1.
Jehovah – I AM, used in the context of His all POWERFUL self-existence, Ex. 3:14
Adonai – Lord, usually used in the context of OWNERSHIP, Ex. 34:23
Genesis 34:23 is one of the rare verses that has all three of these titles for God. Where He claims the creation, existence and ownership of Israel being exclusively His, and therefore mandates worship. This love is human, but when we direct our love to Christ, his wisdom helps us emulate a divine love and thereby grows the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness & self-control. Initially our humanity was given dominion over the rest of God’s creation all around & outside us. Why shouldn’t we exercise dominion over God’s creation WITHIN our self? Read 2nd Corinthians 10:3-7.

God planted a Garden & made trees grow, and rivers flow. He called it Eden and for centuries the prophets would remember it’s glory, (Ezk 28:13, Ezk 31:8-9, Joel 2:3) At least for a few generations after Adam, people lived in it, 2nd Kings 19:21 and even in Ezekiel’s day, it’s region was still known, Ezk. 27:23. But physically it fades in glory and the memory of scribes after Ezekiel make no mention of Eden. The Holy Spirit seems to erase it from history. Which is in harmony with the changing demise of our planet’s nature. Even in today’s world, no matter how many efforts are put into conservation, many things change for the worse. But this remains permanent, God’s purposeful plan for our original state of fellowship with Him. His determined & successful work to redeem His children into an eternal utopia and intimate fellowship. To do this, God’s son would be sacrificed near a garden, John 19:41. He has paradise with the tree of life awaiting His children, Rev. 2:7. Within the City of God, a river flows and His children are given the right to eat from the tree of life, Rev. 22:2-14.  When God created Eden, he knew that Adam’s sin would ruin it’s glory, so He planned & purposed Christ to help us be restored to His original gift of creation in a new heaven & earth. Paul spoke of creation groaning for the culmination of Christ’s glory in us, Romans 8:18-22.

It is interesting to note that God named the garden, it’s rivers and the two trees, but He let Adam name the animals. Giving Adam a view of his dominion stretching beyond Eden, over the animals that would roam beyond it’s borders. God sets borders in earth from the beginning to the end of the earth’s existence, Acts 17:26, and to this day establishes governments which do His will, Romans 13:1. Indeed today, they still move borders and re-name cities, history may be written by man, but God still motivates & works within His-Story. Therefore we should respect Government and try our best to obey authorities, praying for them and reminding them of Christ’s Lordship in the Church. The effect of governing authorities upon the spreading of the gospel is obvious throughout history, both biblically and in secular history. Why? Because the prince of this world is determined to destroy the truth, Ephesians 2:2-3, and God in Jesus Christ rules over the victory of His Kingdom’s message. Our responsibility as Christian citizens is to prayerfully promote responsible dominion over the earth God created for our use and control. Waste is not godly, Jesus showed us concern for this in John 6:12. If our government sees we are environmentally responsible and care for the earth, they may have more appeal toward our message of moral restraint. Nevertheless, if only for the sake of our own conscience and respect for God’s creation, we ought to treat the world we live in with care & refrain from it’s abuse & unnecessary pollution. This kind  of lifestyle can improve the reputation of a Christian’s name from the world’s perspective. Remember, it is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.