Robert Grisham Posts

Today’s reflection is on the book of Ephesians. Many believe this was written during Paul’s two years under house arrest. Others believe it was written much later. Still others believe it wasn’t even written by Paul. Finally, there is the thought that this is actually the letter to the church in Laodicea that was mentioned in Colossians.

There’s no way to know for sure, but when I read it I think about it in the context of Paul as the writer, and most likely of it being written during this time in Rome. It is different from some of the other letters. It’s not as personal, which leads many to believe that it’s a letter written to a larger group of people – perhaps it’s to the many churches that were started during that third missionary journey.

Like yesterday, I’ll just share some highlights of this incredible letter.

Paul begins by sharing God’s plan for this group of people (and really, his plan for all people)…

Long before he laid down earth’s foundation, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Ephesians 1:3-6, The Message

Once again, it was because of Jesus that everything that had been lost and broken was now restored, and the impact of this was bigger than they could image…

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people – free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
Ephesians 1:7-10, The Message

Paul wanted every he knew to understand deeply what God had done for them in Christ…

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10, The Message

Towards the end of the letter Paul explains how this new life in Christ is fleshed out; what it should actually look like. And it begins once again with love!

Watch what God does, and then do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.
Ephesians 5:1-4, The Message

Yesterday’s reading finished the book of Acts, but it’s not the end of Paul. During his two years under house arrest Paul will write several letters, both to churches and to individuals.

Today’s reading is on the letter to the Colossian church and to Philemon. In this reflection I’ll just share a thought or two about Colossians. The first sermon series I ever preached was on this letter. It’s one of my favorites.

There are two things to bear in mind when reading this letter. First, as I mentioned yesterday, Epaphras has shared with Paul challenges that this church is going through, so Paul is going to address those. Second, this is not a church that Paul started. And we have no indication that Paul has visited them either. So this is one of the few letters that Paul writes to a group of people who he has never met nor will meet.

But Epaphras has told him stories, and it feels like he’s known them. Paul is grateful for how God’s love has worked in their lives. The stories

Paul begins by praying for these people he’s never met. It’s a beautiful prayer. He then reminds them who they were before Christ entered their lives. He says…

At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence.
Colossians 1:21-22, The Message

Before the letter is over Paul is going to give some warnings and reprimands. And he’s going to bring up the challenges that Epaphras has told him about. These mostly concern other leaders sharing with this young church that they once again need more than simply Jesus. They need to participate in certain rituals. Paul wants them to know that even though he’s never met them, he knows them, and he’s for them. He believes in him. And he knows that they already have everything that they need. He says…

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving!
Colossians 2:7-8, The Message

And then a little later in the letter…

So, chosen by God for this new life of live, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ – the Message – have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives – words, actions, whatever – be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
Colossians 3:12-17, The Message

More than anything else, Paul believed that when Christ changed a person, he truly changed them. They were a new creation, enabled to live and to love in new and beautiful ways. This is what he wanted for these people.

Today’s reading is from Acts 27-28.

Paul has appealed to Caesar, which means that he won’t be sent back to the Jews who are trying to kill him. Instead, he’s going to Rome, where he has hoped to go all along. Two years earlier he thought that his life would end in Jerusalem, but God has spared his life and allowed him to meet the church in Rome as well as to go to the most influential city in the world!

The ship carrying Paul and his friends set sail from Caesarea, where he had been in prison for the last two years. When they got to Crete, Paul encouraged the captain that it would be best if they did not continue on because of the storm just ahead. The captain didn’t listen to Paul.

They eventually ran into the storm, and it was just as bad as Paul had said it would be. The ship was battered, and everyone thought they were going to die. Paul said that an angel had appeared to him and told him that no one would die, but the ship would be destroyed.

That happened when they got to Malta, but as Paul had said, no lives were lost. The natives of the island welcomed these strangers. Paul, while gathering wood, was bitten by a snake. When it didn’t harm him, they believed that he must be a god.

After three months of living on Malta, they set sail once again in a ship that had been wintered on the island.

When they finally arrived in Rome, those in the church greeted them. Paul was immediately placed under house arrest. No trial or anything. The good thing was that he had so much more freedom than he had had the previous two years. He had his own room, with only a soldier there to make sure he stayed put. But he was allowed to have visitors as often as he liked. For the next two years Paul remained under house arrest.

During those two years several things happened that would prompt letters from Paul. Epaphras, who had started churches in Colossae and Laodicea, came to Rome to discuss the issues that these churches were having. He brought with him Onesimus, a slave who had escaped from his Christian master, a man named Philemon. Epaphras hoped that Paul might be able to convince Philemon to not seek retribution. And on the way to Rome, Epaphras and Onesimus had stopped by Phillipi. For the fourth time, they had collected money to send to Paul and asked Epaphras to deliver it. They too have been going through some challenges, and these are shared with Paul once Epaphras reaches Rome.

Luke ends Acts with this statement…”Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ – with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:31).

Today’s reading comes from Acts 24 – 26.

After Paul arrived in Caesarea he met with Governor Felix. Also present was the high priest Ananias, who was not going to let Paul get away. Felix allows Ananias’ lawyer to present their case, which came down to Paul desecrating their temple by allowing a Gentile (Trophimus of Ephesus) to enter. Paul had done nothing wrong, and he explained this to Felix. Felix knew enough about Paul and the Way (of Jesus – this is what they called their faith) that he quickly saw that Paul had done nothing wrong. So he gave Paul an opportunity to bribe him, and in return he’d let Paul go. Paul didn’t want to bribe him, or maybe he didn’t have the money to do so. So Felix allowed Paul to stay in prison…for two years!

When the two years passed, Felix was succeeded by Festus. On his way to Caesarea he stopped by Jerusalem, and the Jewish leaders asked for Paul to be handed over to him. They were once again ready to set a trap and have him killed. Festus told them that they could go to Caesarea and press charges against him there. They decided to go, but once again they were unable to prove that Paul had done anything wrong.

Festus didn’t want to have anything more to do with this, so he asked Paul if he wanted to travel back to Jerusalem and have a trial there. Paul knew they would kill him in Jerusalem, so he decided to play the biggest card he had as a Roman citizen. He appealed to Caesar. So Paul would now at least have the opportunity to go to Rome!

Today’s reading is from Acts 21-23.

Paul and his companions finally made it to Jerusalem, and they met with James and the other leaders. They were told that there was a rumor going around saying that Paul was telling Jews who lived in Gentile lands that they should turn from the law of Moses. They knew this wasn’t what Paul was doing, but they weren’t sure how to proceed; how to protect Paul. They encouraged him to take a Nazarite vow to show that he was still fully Jewish. So he did. This involved going through purification rites, including shaving his head.

After the seven days of purification, Paul went to the temple, and it was there that he was seized. It was actually Jews from Ephesus who had followed Paul back to Jerusalem and who stirred up the crowd against him. Paul was beaten by the Jews, and they were about to kill him, but the Roman soldiers intervened. Paul was arrested simply to calm the mob down. The Roman commander then began trying to figure out what was going on.

Paul was given the opportunity to speak to the crowd. He told them who he was. He was a Jew born in Tarsus who studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the Jewish law. He was zealous in his persecution of the followers of Jesus until that day when he was on the road to Damascus and he met the risen Lord.

The crowd listened to his story until he got to the part where God sent him to the Gentiles, in part because he wasn’t safe among his own people. At the mention of Gentiles they began shouting that he must die. The Roman commander ordered that Paul be taken into custody and beaten.

At this Paul decided he should let the commander know that he too was Roman, and it was illegal to beat a Roman citizen without him first going through a trial.

The next day the Roman commander released Paul into the custody of the Sanhedrin (Jewish ruling body), and he stood before Ananias the high priest.

Paul was a smart fella, and he knew that in this room were both Pharisees and Sadducees, and for many years they had disagreed on whether or not there is a resurrection for God’s people. So he decided to play into this. He told the crowd that he was a Pharisee, and he had hope in the resurrection of the dead. Now all of a sudden the Sadducees were yelling, but the Pharisees said, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him” (Acts 23:9). How funny is that!

The Roman commander was worried that Paul would be torn into pieces by the crowd, so he took Paul into custody, just to keep him safe.

The next day a group of 40 Jews made an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. This is serious. They plotted to kill him when Paul came before the Sanhedrin again. Fortunately for Paul, he was warned of the plot by his nephew. The nephew told the commander, who decided at that point that he couldn’t let this happen to a Roman citizen under his watch. So he sent Paul to Caesarea to let Governor Felix deal with him.

Today’s reading is from Acts 20-21.

After Paul’s three years in Ephesus, he spent three months back in Corinth. This is where he wrote Romans. He then began to make his way towards Jerusalem. On the way he called for the elders from the church in Ephesus to meet him. He knows that this will be the last time that he sees them. He lets them know that. They don’t like hearing words like this.

They also don’t like hearing him talk about Jerusalem being the place where he will die. He tells them this, but he also tells them that he is ok with this. He says, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

After he spoke to them for awhile, they knelt together and prayed. Luke says that they all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. And then he says, “What grieved them the most was his statement that they would never see his face again” (Acts 20:38).

You see here the impact that Paul had made on this group of people. They loved him. They didn’t want to see him suffer. They wanted to do whatever they could do to keep him safe. But they also knew that Paul had made his mind up. He was going to Jerusalem, and he was willing to die there.

At each of Paul’s next stops his friends urged him to turn back and not to go to Jerusalem. But he would not be dissuaded.

Just as we began Romans looking at worship, so we end there. Humanity’s first problem was, “People knew God perfectly well, but they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him” (Romans 1:21, The Message). We’ve looked at the impact that this had not simply on humans but on all of creation. Jesus came to free us from the slavery that came as a result of sin. Not only this, he also restored our relationship to God and our vocation of working with God to reconcile to himself all things.

Here is Romans 12:1-2 from The Message…

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Worship can be things we say or sing, or rituals that we participate in. But worship is far bigger than this. Worship is more about our ordinary life than any religious rituals. It’s less about what we do on Sunday and more about what we do Monday through Saturday.

Worship occurs when we say thank you to God for the small things in life. It’s when we humbly acknowledge that we need his help. It’s when we enter into the process of God making us who he created us to be. It’s when we respond to his prompts. It’s when we sit still and are mindful of his presence. It’s when we surrender to his will.

Today’s reading covers several chapters of , but I want to focus on just a few verses from chapter 8.

I hinted at this a couple of days ago, but there was an original calling that humanity had. It was to be God’s representatives over his good creation. But when we failed to worship God and instead worshiped idols, something happened, to us and to the creation that we failed to steward. Both fell into a sort of disrepair. God then allowed, for quite some time, for us to remain in a state of slavery. That time ended with Jesus, both for us and for creation. Though for creation, it appears that there is still some waiting to be endured.

So what is creation waiting on?

Here’s how NT Wright translates Romans 8:19-21…

Yes, creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.

The life-giving relationship that we had with God had been broken due to our rebellion. Jesus’ death came to restore everything that was lost and broken. It of course began with our relationship with God. But it wasn’t just our relationship that was restored. Our vocation was also restored.

Many of us were led to believe that the finish line was receiving the gift of salvation that came through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. But it’s not the finish line. Jesus spoke of it as new birth. No one thinks of the birth of a child as the finish line. It’s the starting point.

Once our relationship with God was restored, now the true work would begin. In Christ God was inviting us to once again take on the role of ambassador of his kingdom. We would once again represent the King. And through every act of justice, kindness and generosity, the creation that had been broken would begin to be restored.

That’s why creation is on tiptoe with expectation. It knows what is coming. It is waiting on us!

Another one of my favorite passages is found in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. I’m again going to share from The Message.

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us – set us right with him, make us fit for him – we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand – out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary – we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Romans 5:1-5

Here’s why I’m encouraged by this passage.

As we looked at yesterday, it is through Christ that we have been set right with God. This was the plan all along – for us to work alongside God in his act of reconciling to himself all things.

I love the imagery of throwing open our doors to God. It’s saying, “Here I am.” But when we do that, we see that he’s already made the first move towards us. And where we find ourselves in that moment is a wide open space marked by God’s grace and glory. We’re safe in this space. We’re free in this space. We’re loved in this space.

Here’s where it gets really good though.

It’s one thing to praise God when things are going well and when we sense his presence. But what happens when there is struggle? Loss? Pain? Confusion? Suffering? How do we respond then? We can acknowledge even then that we’re still in that wide open space with God. God has not left us. God is still at work.

It’s in those moments, more so than when things are peachy, that we develop perseverance. Grit. Fortitude. Patience. And it’s not simply perseverance for perseverance’s sake. No, this perseverance develops in us character, or, as it’s stated above, “the tempered steel of virtue.” Suffering can cause us to lose hope, but when we go through this process, it can also lead to a sustaining hope.

And it’s in that moment, after we’ve come out of the darkness stronger, that we realize how much God truly loves us and takes delight in us.

Today I want to look at just a few verses from the first chapter of Romans. These verses have shaped my spiritual life in profound ways.

In verses 16-17 Paul defines the gospel as, “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” Here’s how it reads in The Message: “this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him.”

The word gospel means “good news.” What is associated with good news is normally bad news. I grew up thinking that the bad news was that a good God had created and blessed me, and in response to that amazing gift I had sinned and rebelled against him. The punishment for that sin and rebellion was that I was destined for eternity in hell. But God sent Jesus to take on this punishment. If I accepted this free gift, then I could be forgiven and cleansed, my relationship with God would be restored, and I would get to spend eternity in heaven.

It’s not that I no longer believe this story. It’s just that there are now some rather large tweaks to it.

Paul goes on to explain the problem in verses 21-23…

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Again, from The Message…

What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

Here’s where I would differ with the way The Message puts it. I don’t think those were simply cheap figurines. They were actually powerful idols.

The problem wasn’t simply that we sinned. It was that we knew God was God but we didn’t treat him like God (refusing to worship him). We rejected God and turned instead to other things. It’s actually impossible to reject God and then to not put some thing or someone in that same position. We were all created to worship. I wrote about this awhile back.

Paul continues in verses 24-25…

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.

And from The Message:

So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them – the God we bless, the God who blesses us.

We reject God believing that we will be happier when we are in control. We believe that it will lead to freedom, but it doesn’t. That’s the lie. It instead leads to slavery. And we soon learn that we are incapable of escaping on our own. We need help.

This is Edmund’s story in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Edmund has believed a lie that the Witch can offer him something he doesn’t have, and it’s not just turkish delight, as great as I’m sure that is. It’s power. He wants more power than his brother Peter has. But the lie leads to action, and the action leads to slavery.

This is the bad news. Because of our rejection of God and the inevitable giving ourselves to idols, we were enslaved by those idols. Sin was the natural result of this enslavement. And there was nothing that we could do to escape.

Edmund’s story, just as our own, thankfully ends with good news. The gospel is the “extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him.” The word “rescue” is key for me. I think it’s a more helpful word than salvation, but that’s what salvation means.

If you’ve read the book, you know that Aslan willingly dies so that Edmund doesn’t have to. That’s what everyone sees, and that is the story I grew up with. But it doesn’t stop there, because in his death is also something bigger. Something more explosive. Something they don’t yet see. In his death he is overthrowing the idols so that things can return to the way they were meant to be. He’s overthrowing “always winter but never Christmas”, which is a terrible thing. He’s setting free the slaves that have been turned to stone by the witch. It’s redemption. It’s rescue.

This is the larger good news story. It’s bigger than simply us as individuals. God has a plan to reconcile all things to himself (Colossians 1:20). Jesus’ death brought forgiveness, cleansing and reconciliation with God. But it also broke the shackles and allowed us to reclaim the role God gave us of partnering with him in this task of reconciling all things. This is truly good news!