Promise thru Paul 237: Peace and Love

237. Peace and Love

Ephesians 6:23 Peacebe to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace and love is commended for the brothers in Ephesus; Paul blesses them with peace and love. The blessing is based on the promises of God, and it becomes a promise fulfilled in the life of the church in Ephesus. The Father and Jesus grant peace and love with faith. The prayer and wish part of the blessing is that they might realize and activate the peace and love that has already been given. Few of us ever actually walk in or enjoy the promises of God all the time. 

Sin, Death and Satan rob us of peace and love as much as they can. We stand against the Enemy in the armor of God. As the enemies are defeated in actual practice peace and love begin to assert ascendancy and rule in our hearts and minds. The benedictory farewell is really an assertion that peace and love is what you already have; now enjoy it in your soul and let it be made real and alive.

Peace is a powerful force, although it doesn’t feel like force; it is a gentle breeze if anything. Peace guards the heart and rules the soul. Since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God. That kind of peace, the peace of God, gently pushes away the negative emotions like guilt and anger and sadness, etc. Peace rules in place of strife and stress. Everyone desires peace in the inward parts. This is why the common greeting among the Jews and Arabs is “Shalom, or Salaam,” meaning, of course, peace. This is a good meeting and leaving greeting. In the New Testament the peace greeting does not mean, “I hope you get peace,” but it means, “Enjoy the peace you have already been blessed with.” God activate it, or, God bless you.

Love with faith is the only kind of true love there is. God grants it and faith receives it. Love without faith can be fleshly, selfish, and exists when an emotion is present that makes me feel good. God is the source. The only real love is the love that comes from God; it is total, unconditional, self-giving, serving, and meeting the emotional needs of the other person. When God’s love flows through us it has the power to change the conditions and the atmosphere of the room. Love is the greatest force in the universe, and again, it doesn’t feel like force. Man cannot give love until he has received it by faith. May God grant the faith to actualize peace and love.

Promise thru Paul 236: Able to Stand

236. Able to Stand

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

If you put on the whole armor of God, then you will be able to stand against the lies and deceits of Satan. This is a big deal, because he really hates us and seeks rabidly to devour and destroy us. And he is relentless. In this spiritual warfare of words, thoughts, and feelings we have been equipped to fight, resist and stand against him.

We do not literally put on armor; we do not even have to prayerfully go through the motions with each piece of equipment (although it won’t hurt). But we put on the armor through daily repentance and faith. Let your mind hear the Law and the Gospel. This simple but powerful activity puts on and puts in Truth, Righteousness, Gospel, Faith, Salvation, and Word. Repentance and Faith puts on all these wonderful blessings and promises. We need to be aware of this armor that we have received as a gift of grace. We don’t make the armor, or earn it or work for it; we have already received it. Just use it. Stand in it.

We don’t see the devil and we don’t see the lies he shoots into our minds, but he is still real. We don’t see the pieces of armor we are wearing, but they are just as real. The promise is that these weapons of spiritual warfare are strongerthan any darts, guns, tanks or bombs the devil can throw at us. There are so many ways (wiles) that the devil uses to bring us down and so many ways we can go down. We can’t see them very well and we don’t usually recognize the devil behind the ways. But we don’t focus on him; we focus on Jesus, on the love and goodness of God, and on the six pieces of armor listed here. Focus on Jesus as often as possible and let Him do the fighting. 

Promise thru Paul 235: Receive good from the Lord

235. Receive Good from the Lord

Ephesians 6:7-8With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

The context of the promise is for slaves or servants, but in the context of our day the promise applies to any employeewho works for another. And in some sense, everyone works for another. The command is that we should regard ourselves as doing service for the Lord, and not to men. In fact, everything a Christian does is service to the Lord; and we serve the Lord by serving others. Every person needs to know his calling in life: For whom do we work and whom do we serve in our station in life?

If I am a husband I serve my wife as I would the Lord. If I am a father I serve my family as I would serve the Lord. If I am a son I honor my parents as if they were God. If I am a friend I lay down my life for my friends as I die to myself for the good of others. If I am a neighbor I serve the neighbor as I would the Lord Himself. No matter what my role or position or occupation there are people whom I serve: I love my neighbor as myself. I regard myself as a Servant of all. But I regard myself as serving the Lord and doing it all for Him.

The Lord does not need my good works, but other people do. I do not “serve the Lord,” but I serve Him by serving flesh and blood people. “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,” says Jesus.

I do not serve or do my work for payment and reward (though I can’t escape that in the real world); but I serve others out of thanks to God for His awesome grace and salvation. However, the Lord promises that I will receive from the Lord for every good thing I do. And He keeps track; I don’t. This promise assures us that no good work of sacrificial service will lack a payment or reward. “He who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones shall in no wise lose his reward.” 

It takes a turned around head to think in these terms, I work for God by loving others and doing good things for them. God records each little deed and He repays accordingly. The promise needs to be believed in order to turn my life outward to seek ways that I can be kind to others. And the Lord will never forget it. People will forget and they don’t always even give thanks. It is enough to know that I will receive the same good thing of the Lord. When my constant focus is on Jesus and not on myself life is much better. It helps to see Jesus in every other person I see. Jesus notices, and He rewards.

Promise thru Paul 234: Live Well

234. Live Well

Ephesians 6:2-3 Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

This is a conditional promise: if you obey your parents, then it will be well with you and you may live long on the earth. We are not able to define what it means to live long. “Long” is a relative number. It probably means a full life, with every day being full of life and enjoying every minute. Living long is also defined by the parallel promise, “it may be well with you.”Living well is ultimately more important than living long. A long life can still be miserable.

“Living well” may be defined differently by different people. Each person’s life is unique and one person’s interesting life is not for another person. Each of us can define living well in a way that is meaningful to himself. And it would be a good idea to attempt our own definition of living well. Someone once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” 

It can be said with certainty that God wants you well; He also provides the resources to live life well, even in spite of physical or mental handicaps. We believe that Jesus Christ has granted every believer a wonderful life.That we don’t all enjoy all the complete wellness of life that God wants to give us is most likely because of our sins and shortcomings. 

God gives the Ten Commandments in order to bless us and enable us to enjoy a completely well and full life. The single example of this one commandment about obeying parents implies that obeying every commandment brings the promise of a wonderful life. Our life and the life of the whole world would be so much better if everyone obeyed the Moral Law of God and did not sin. That’s a given; therefore the Law is a blessing of God’s goodness to us. Blessing and curses are delineated in the Bible, dependent on whether we obey or disobey the Law. The Law is a good thing; it is I, the sinner, who is a bad thing: consequences follow.

Every bookstore has a thousand books and a thousand ways to show one how to live well; but only One Book gives the Truth and the Way. But since Sin caused us to lose our way and suffer diminishment of Life, God made another Way, the only way, to the well and good life: It is the Gospel. 

Specifically, in this commandment the conditional promise is for those who learn to honor and obey their parents. “Obeyers” will live well. Those who learn to obey their parents will more easily learn to obey God. Obedience builds character, strength, self-efficacy, and many other inner blessings that produce a good life. Every person has failed, some a little, some a lot, but every person can come into Life through repentance and faith in the Gospel. Repent, Believe, and Live Well.

Promise thru Paul 233: Holy and without Blemish

233. Holy and without Blemish

Ephesians 5:27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

God promises a Church (the Bride of Christ) that is glorious, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish. Think of it: billions of people are all as one with not one stain or even a wrinkle, holy and pure. This is truly astounding, and imagining such a thing is beyond our experience. We see flaws, spots, wrinkles, blemishes, stains, filthiness and mistakes all around us and especially within us. Imagine billions of people perfect and whole and mistake-free. It is hard to imagine one person like that, unless we look at and study the life of Jesus. I certainly cannot imagine myself looking like that.

But that is the promise; that is the anticipated outcome of human history; that is the assured resultof the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s original intention and eternal design for His Creation was to create a large group of perfect human beings living in a perfect paradise.They would share the love of God with each other all the time. They would have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the animals of the field, and the beasts of the forest. And God’s original purpose for all created things will come true. “If this were a perfect world….” It will be a perfect world. We have that to look forward to, and the closer we get to dying the hotter that excitement becomes.

The marriage bond is the most intimate relationship that humans experience on earth. The parent-child relationship is also filled with love, but that is a result of the marriage bond. The Lord uses that analogy to come close to describing our life with Christ.  Think of it: we all together as one see Him face to face, bathed in liquid love, overcome with intimate emotions of love for God and others, and filled with a holiness that we have never seen before.

We get to “play God” when we forgive those who have trespassed against us, but we cannot play God by changing others and making them holy. This is what Christ has done for us: He does forgive us, yes, but even more, He is in the process of making us as holy as He has declared us to be. And when that process is complete…wow, here we are in the intimate presence of His holiness and love.

Promise thru Paul 232: Sanctified and Cleansed

232. Sanctify and Cleanse

Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

God promises that Jesus (the Bridegroom) will sanctify and cleanse the Church (the Bride). Jesus makes us holy and clean. The blood of Christ washes sin away = the death of Christ forgives Sin. The means of cleansing is the “washing of water by the word.” This hints of Baptism, which is water and Word. The word of God in and with the water works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation to all who believe this. Faith trusts the word in the water.

Ultimately, it is the word and promise of God that sanctifies and cleanses. When this promise is believed it happens: we are holy and pure. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” [Mark 16:16}. The promise is not a fantasy, a wish, a mere hope, or a ritual; something really happens. The word has power; that word is the Gospel.The word is in the water. Believe and be sanctified and cleansed. We may not remember our Baptism, but we can “remember” it by daily repentance; the old man is drowned and a new man daily arises.

Faith sees what God sees: a clean, holy, pure, innocent and righteous person. The outlook we have on life changes, for then we have a new view of ourselves and we regard others in a different way. Reckon yourselves dead to sin; reckon yourselves clean and neat; reckon yourselves holy and pure; reckon yourselves new and fresh. This is true every day.

Promise thru Paul 231: Light in the Lord

231. Light in the Lord

Ephesians 5:8For ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

You are light in the Lord. This is not a command; it is a promise.Jesus is the light of the world. Then He also says YOU are the light of the world. Jesus is in you as the light, and that indwelling makes the believer a light. Jesus says, “Let your light shine before others.” The believer does not shine the light, as if he has a switch he can turn on and off. The light is already there and it is already shining. Just let it, that is, don’t hide it under a bushel.

The promise is: you are light. The command is: walk as children of light. Live as though you really are shining lights in the world. Act like the person you are. Sin hides the light: “at that time you were darkness.” But now that the Holy Spirit through the Gospel has created faith you are light. Once you were darkness, but your sins are forgiven. However, darkness remains because sin remains. Both dark and light exist within. But we hear the Gospel and then the light is stronger than the darkness. To let the light shine we live by the Gospel, not by the Law. The Law is a guide and it shows us what the light looks like, but the Gospel is the power to actually do it. Repenting and believing the Gospel is letting the light shine, or, walking as children of light.

We are light, that’s the promise. We believe the promise, and it shines (we live as children of light). One command in Scripture that gives a hint regarding how to let it shine is in Philippians 3:14-16: “Do all things without grumbling or complaining…among whom you shine as lights in the world.” The hint is this: Live your life without complaining. When you do you will look different than a crooked and twisted generation. Light shines in the darkness and pushes it back, for it is always stronger, obviously. This is an awesome promise: “now are ye light.”

Promise thru Paul 230: Sealed unto the Day

230. Sealed unto the Day

Ephesians 4:30And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

We have the Holy Spirit of God living within. The warning here is about grieving the Spirit; He doesn’t leave, but he is grieved by our thoughts and actions. The  promise is that the Spirit has sealed us unto the day of redemption. A Day is coming when we shall be redeemed, finally saved from the presence of Sin, Satan, and Death. Never more again will the Enemies bother us, deceive us, or try to destroy us. This is redemption: we are bought back and we belong to God forever.

Meanwhile, while we wait for that Glorious Day, as we live on this earth, we are sealed. We are sealed with Eternal Life, the very life of God: we have that life now, but it coexists with the old life of sin and death that remains in the flesh. The Holy Spirit of God, the life of God Himself, is the seal. The seal is a guarantee of life that begins now and goes on forever.

Redemption simply takes us out of the control of the Enemies, The Church and our own souls are in the middle of the War between Flesh and Spirit. On the Day of Redemption that War will end in Final Victory. After that final battle we shall be ushered into the Eternal State of the new heaven and the new earth, while everything that is not of God is turned into the Lake of Fire. This is the Promise that we have received by faith in Jesus Christ. We have the certain hope that The Day will come because we have today the Spirit as a seal. This guaranteed promise living within our spirit gives us confidence and joy today and tomorrow. Nothing and no one will take us out of the hand of the Father. 

The seal cannot be broken, although the God of love does give us the right and power to turn away and reject God and break the seal. We will even have that power in eternity, but we never will. The promise of a seal is given to us now so that we will rest secure in His love and power, which is strong enough to hold us tight. The seal is not a wish or a “hope so,” but it is a certainty. We belong to God and the love of God compels us not to want to grieve Him. This is the encouragement we have: thedesire to know and do the will of God. When we sin we repent and come back under His seal and covering immediately by faith in the Gospel.

Promise thru Paul 229: Grow up into Christ

229. Grow up into Him

Ephesians 4:15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.

“Grow up!” is not a chiding command to an immature person. It is a promise to all Christians. You may grow up into Jesus Christ.We will never finish growing up, but we continue to grow up. We learn more and more about Jesus, we are being conformed to His image, and we are becoming more and more like Christ.

We admit that we do not always act like mature Christians, but we have the promise that we may grow up into Him in all things. Believing the promise that we may grow up does not make us proud, but rather faith in the promise keeps us humble. I repent of my failure and immaturity and coming up short of the glory. I receive forgiveness in the Gospel and, with it, the power to grow.

But what does “in all things” mean? Certainly it does not mean wearing sandals and sporting the same kind of beard. It does not mean working miracles and healings. But “all things” means everything spiritual: all the spiritual blessings of Christ as a human become ours. Essentially “all things” has to do with character. The character of Christ shows up more and more as we grow into Him. The character of the body of Christ and the body and soul of each believer exhibits the fruit of the Spirit, and essentially it looks like love. Loving others is much more than having tender feelings and warm fuzzies; it is more than doing kind things and making other people feel good; it is also dying to self and laying down our lives for the good of other people. This is being Christ-like. 

When Christ shows up He will always be the “adult in the room.” When Christ uses our life and shows up it will always be with wise counsel, loving care, a peaceful spirit, and exuberant joy. Most people will recognize Him when they see Him, and hopefully they will say, “I want to be like that.” That’s the promise: You may grow up into him in all things.

Promise thru Paul 228: Fullness of Christ

228. Fullness of Christ

Ephesians 4:13d…unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The equipping of the saints builds up the body unto the fullness of Christ, at least unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In this life the church is building up the body so that it will come close to the fullness of Christ, but it will still only be a measure. We must wait for the Second Coming to be full of Christ forever. The promise is a measure now, but it will be fullness later

The Church will not be completely whole because sin remains in it. Sin, Death and the Devil are continually diminishing the fullness of Christ in the body. As long as the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered according to it there will be a body of Christ on earth. As long as the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered the body will grow closer to the fullness of Christ. As long as individual believers hear the Gospel and receive the Sacraments each one will come closer to fullness. We are “full” of Christ right now, but Sin still remains in the flesh to prevent us from becoming full and whole. Nevertheless, the promise can be believed and maintained by constant exposure to the Word of God.

It is enough for us to have Christ living in the heart; it is more than enough to come closer and closer to the fullness of Christ ruling in us. Daily repentance and faith in the Gospel draws us closer and closer to being Spirit-filled. Sin and Self and Flesh are too rampant within to keep us from enjoying the fullness all the time. But the promise of a measure is enough to encourage us to keep going and growing.

Whether one is a weak or a strong Christian he has a certain stature. The believer is always able to stand up strong, stand for something, and stand against Evil; there is a measure of the stature.