Ephesians– overview of 3:9; The unworthy messenger servant, part 4.

Thursday December 12, 2019

 

All believers are unworthy and bring nothing to offer God, and yet they have been called by God to go forth in all His will in the image of Christ in all holiness and blamelessness.

 

The last few classes we have been looking into the last supper. It is the Passover meal where Christ and Satan would sit next to each other and the disciples would ignorantly compare themselves to each other wondering who was the greatest. Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God would wash the feet of the betrayer indwelt by Satan and give to him the bread and the wine, openly proclaiming their meaning in His cross.

 

There is a betrayer in their midst, but the biggest problem among the eleven is the betrayer within them: ignorance and pride.

 

Men and women who are of the type of the new humanity in Christ Jesus think and behave in a certain way, empowered by God. And with all the lies, distractions, and oppositions around them, and the fact that these very real dangers can rob them of the expression and experience of what they are in Christ, they must be diligent to grab hold of their life with all expedience.

 

HEB 10:32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,

 

Christian Jews were heavily persecuted by their family and friends who had rejected Jesus as Messiah.

 

Though none of us find ourselves in this situation, the application to us is simple. When something, internal or external, makes walking in a manner worthy of your calling difficult, we find ourselves in the exact same situation.

 

HEB 10:33 partly, by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.

 

HEB 10:34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.

 

The persecution did not relent. Many of the Christian Jews had to flee the Jerusalem area. They could make it all go away by returning to the Temple worship under the Mosaic Law. They could justify it by concluding that they weren’t able to handle it, meaning, God made an error when He called them to be Christlike.

 

HEB 10:35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

 

The confidence is that doing the will of God, in the face of any opposition, will bring great reward; life beyond what you could think of imagine.

 

HEB 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

 

[HAB 2:3-4; the Babylonians are coming to take the people of God away. Habakkuk wondered why God would allow His remnant to be taken along with the rest]

HEB 10:37 For yet in a very little while,

He who is coming will come, and will not delay.

 

HEB 10:38 But My righteous one shall live by faith;

And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

 

HEB 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

 

LUK 22:19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 

 

LUK 22:20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

 

The betrayer is in your midst. He is in you in the sin nature and around you as Satan and his world system. There are wonderful and meaningful things in the world that can be enjoyed and appreciated and used by us, but we must be careful of the dark, sinful, and harmful things that Satan weaves into the fabric of the world, and separate from them (sanctification).

 

LUK 22:21 "But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Me on the table.

 

LUK 22:22 "For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" 

 

LUK 22:23 And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.

 

The battle of the cosmos, of the universe, of the Son of God vs. Satan is silently playing out at their Passover table, and in the midst of it, their blind minds are only filled with who is the greatest of them.

 

So much in the life of Christ depends upon love, and not human love, but God’s love: giving, sacrificial, loss of self, and joy in doing it all. All who are Christ’s have been gifted with it.

 

How we think and behave in every situation with every person every day is of the most importance, for making men of a certain type was the entire purpose of God for the universe.

 

LUK 22:24 And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.

 

LUK 22:25 And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.'

 

“benefactors” - euergetes = benefactor, an agent of good work or benefit. We do not rule and bestow benefits; we serve.

 

LUK 22:26 "But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.

 

LUK 22:27 "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves [He washed their feet and served the meal].