Real suffering (Ephesians 3:1-13)

Stop… in the name of love

Paul’s purpose is to communicate God’s love. That’s his destination in verse 18, “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” That’s why he prays. Verse 14: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” Paul begins. He is saying: I want you know what it means for God to love you; What it means for Christ to die on the cross for you.

But there is a problem. His destination is God’s love – that’s where he is trying get to – but along the way he makes a detour. Why? Because of suffering. Look at verse 1.

For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ on behalf of you Gentiles
Ephesians 3:1

It is the exact same way he begins in verse 14, “For this reason I bow my knees”. He is about to pray for these Christians to know the fullness of God’s love in Jesus Christ. But along the way he mentions the fact that he is praying this prayer in a prison cell. He is not in a comfortable study, doing his morning devotional on his Kindle, sipping herbal tea and listening to Stuart Townend in the background. Paul is a prisoner of Christ “on behalf of you Gentiles”. The context of this prayer for love – this prayer for God’s power to understand God’s love – is suffering.

And Paul immediately sees: That’s a problem for these Christians.

And sometimes you might be very eager to communicate God’s love to a friend, so you bring them to church, you bring them to hear the talks at the CICCU mission last week (which were amazing!), you bow your knees before God and you pray for them to receive God’s love. But if you are like Paul, you take one look at your friend, and you might notice that he’s been worried sick about his grandmother in hospital. Or that she’s just come off a bad break-up with her boyfriend. You notice these things because suffering may, at times, lead us to cry out for God’s love. But often times, it causes us to question the reality of God’s love. If God loves us, why is there suffering in this world?

Paul stops to deal with that question. He wants his readers to understand that God’s love and our suffering are not two incompatible realities. In fact, Paul will go so far as to say that one explains the other. That is, Paul doesn’t just comfort them, and say, “There, there you poor thing.” He tells them the reason why he is suffering. And it’s very shocking what he says here, I wonder if you’ve noticed that. He says: I am suffering for Christ. I am suffering for your sake. “For this reason, I Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles.” Wow!

There are three things I want you to notice in today’s passage:

(1) The reason for Paul’s suffering – which is the gospel (verses 1-6);
(2) The privilege of Paul’s suffering – which is God’s grace (verses 7-9); and
(3) The boldness of Paul’s suffering – which is their glory (verses 10-13)

1. The reason for Paul’s suffering – the gospel

Remember the reason why Paul makes this important stop. He is dealing with the problem of suffering – his suffering! Paul is in prison. Paul is in chains (Ephesians 6:20). But, notice, he doesn’t stop to talk about his painful trials, does he? He isn’t complaining about the prison food or the unfair treatment. What Paul does is he goes straight into the reason why he is suffering.

Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, and I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
Ephesians 3:2-5

What he keeps focusing on is this thing he calls “the mystery”. It is the mystery made known to him by revelation (verse 3). It is the mystery not made known to the sons of men in other generations (verse 5), but instead revealed, only now, and only to Christ’s holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

What is this mystery?

It is not talking about something mysterious. As in a mystery novel where Sherlock Holmes uses his intuition, takes one look at the clues and then solves the whole mystery. It is also not talking about the mysterious unknown – ghosts, UFO’s and the Twilight Zone. Ooooh, mysterious!

“Mystery” in the bible is something that is hidden by God from man’s understanding. That’s verse 5: It was not made known to the sons of men. “Secret” might be a better word. God had kept this secret hidden for generations, all throughout history – this secret of Christ – of what God was planning to accomplish when Jesus came. What’s the reason why we couldn’t figure it out? God kept it hidden from our understanding. He didn’t want us to know the final destination of his plan.

Until now.

Now, God has revealed this secret, it says at the end of verse 5, “to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”. Paul is not Sherlock Holmes. He didn’t work out this mystery. It was revealed to him by God – “by the Spirit”.

But why now? Notice that this is called the mystery “of Christ” (verse 4). It was the coming of Jesus Christ that changed the course of history. In fact, the holy apostles in verse 5 – “his” holy apostles – is not a reference to God, but to Jesus. These are Jesus’ apostles. He chose his twelve disciples. He revealed the secrets of the Kingdom of God to his holy apostles. And upon his death and resurrection, he left them his Holy Spirit, to remind them of all that he had taught them and to give them insight into the mystery of God. “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says in Matthew 13:11, “but to them it has not been given.”

Well, that brings us back to the same question: What is this mystery? Paul tells us, in verse 6.

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:6

Hmm, doesn’t sound all that mysterious, does it? Doesn’t sound like much of a mystery, either. Rather, it’s plain and frankly, quite simple. The outsiders are now insiders. Everything that God promised his people, the Jews – everything, which includes the kingdom, the resurrection and eternal life – all of these promises are now given to non-Jews, to Gentiles – “in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” That’s the mystery. It is not mysterious. It is not hard to explain: “If you are in Christ, you’re in.” That’s the mystery.

So again, you might very reasonably say, “What’s the big deal?” And if you think that, it’s because you’re a Gentile. You’re the outsider. You don’t understand what a big deal it is for God to include you into his kingdom.

You don’t get it because you don’t get the gospel. The gospel is the central message of the bible that Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you could be in. That’s the ticket price. Jesus’ death for your life. Some of you take the cross for granted, that’s why you take your life for granted. You think it’s cheap. You think that the money you dropped in the offering bag is your subscription to this church service. You think that going to Rock Fellowship is such a sacrifice. You don’t get that the only reason why you can call yourself a Christian – if you really are a Christian – is that Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross and he took the punishment of God for your sin on your behalf. That is the gospel.

But there’s another way to reject the gospel, and this is probably closer to the reason why Paul brings up the gospel here. It is the reason why Paul stops for a moment from talking about God’s love to focus on the reason for Paul’s suffering. The first way to reject the gospel is to reject Christ’s death on your behalf. But the second way to reject the gospel is to reject those accepted through Christ’s death on their behalf. And I think it’s this second rejection that is central to the reason why Paul is suffering for the gospel.

Paul was in prison because the gospel is offensive. It was offensive to the insiders, the Jews, who said, “How can these Gentiles be included into the kingdom?” They worship idols. They are immoral. They don’t know anything about the bible or about God. How can we let them into our church?

And Paul says this: The Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. That’s offensive.

If you’ve been coming to the Chinese Church for decades; and for decades we only had Chinese songs; for decades we have only had Chinese people; for decades we only ate Chinese food! Then suddenly, one day, someone brings huge big bowl of Caesar Salad and plonks it right in the middle of the buffet table at the Chinese New Year. Or one day, a whole group of African Christians join us on Sunday afternoon and they start jumping and raising their hands during the songs. Or one day, a Japanese pastor who speaks fluent Mandarin applies to be our lead pastor.

What is our response? What should be our response? I hope it is this: In Christ Jesus, through the gospel, all outsiders are insiders! That should be our response.

But the reality for Paul was this: that wasn’t the response he got to the gospel. People got upset. They started riots. They even hired men to kill Paul. That’s the reason why he was arrested. Mainly for causing so much trouble for preaching this gospel – this simple message that Jesus Christ is the one and only way we are accepted by God. That was enough then to get people angry with Paul. It is an offensive message.

Yet notice what it took for Paul to understand that gospel. Revelation. God changes our hearts to accept Christ, to accept this message of Christ, and only then, to accept our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That’s very important because of what I’m going to say next. If you don’t see that Christ makes anyone and everyone who trusts in him, acceptable here in the church – you’re probably not a Christian, yourself. I’ll say that again, maybe in a slightly different way. If you can’t look at another person who is totally unlike you – he or she has a different colour of skin, they speak a different language, they come from a background that is entire foreign to yours – and say in your heart, as long as this person trusts in Jesus Christ as their one and only basis for forgiveness and acceptance in God, he is my brother; she is my sister; if you cannot say that, then it’s possible that you are not a Christian yourself.

This has implications on the way we do church membership. On the way we choose our leaders, our pastors, our Sunday schools teachers. On who we marry – whether that person is a graduate or not, Chinese or not, young or not so young. It has implications on mission – do we just reach the Chinese students; are our events just focussed on Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival every year?

I’m not saying that we won’t struggle with this. Quite the opposite: We will struggle with these issues precisely because we are struggling to apply the gospel into these issues; and because the gospel is so radically inclusive and at the same time, so radically exclusive in these issues. God is bringing all things under Christ – meaning every person and every issue is relevant to Jesus. And yet Christ is head over all things – In the end, he will be seen as King. In the end, he alone receives all glory.

The only way to struggle with these issues is to struggle with the gospel. You need to open your bibles (It boggles me how church leaders can debate long and hard about church issues with God’s word closed to the discussion!) and you need to bow before God in prayer – he reveals his gospel by his Spirit. You keep coming back to the gospel. You keep turning back to Christ. And you keep leaning on God’s spirit for his wisdom and revelation.

The gospel will cause us to struggle. That’s a good thing. But the gospel will also cause us to suffer. That, too, is a good thing.

Paul calls this God’s grace to him.

2. The privilege of Paul’s suffering – God’s grace

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.
Ephesians 3:7-9

Again, remember that Paul is speaking to a bunch of Christians, who see him languishing in a prison cell and are probably going, “You poor thing.” And Paul is saying to them, “You don’t get it. Yes, it’s tough. But I know why I’m here. It’s because of the gospel.”

If we were in such a situation, well, if I were in such a situation, I would be tempted to say something like, “I don’t deserve this suffering.” You know, especially if you’re serving God and preaching the gospel, you might say, “Why is this happening to me? Am I not doing God’s will?” I mean, it’s bad enough if you’re in trouble for doing something that you know is bad; you know that God doesn’t want you to do. But what if you’re doing something that you know for sure, God wanted you to do. What if you were obeying God fully and walking according to his revealed will, and then suffering occurs? Wouldn’t you be tempted to say, “I don’t deserve this!”

But what does Paul say? I don’t deserve to be preaching this gospel.

He says, “Though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given me, to preach to the Gentiles” (verse 8). This is God’s grace. I don’t deserve this. It is a privilege to open my mouth and to speak this message of the gospel and be an instrument that God uses to bring outsiders into his kingdom.

Paul isn’t exaggerating when he calls himself the least of all the saints (by “saints” he is referring to Christians. All Christians are “saints”, or “set apart” for God.) He is the last guy you would expect to be a Christian pastor. For Paul to be preaching the gospel would be like getting Richard Dawkins to speak at the CICCU mission, telling hundreds of students to give their lives to Jesus. In the book of Acts, we see Paul dragging Christians to court, throwing them into prison, and at one point, even condoning the murder of the first Christian martyr. He did this with a passion. He did this because he thought he was absolutely in the right, that he was serving God, that Jesus was a fake, and that the Christian faith was deceptive and dangerous. He truly believed this, but his beliefs led him to anger, to violence and to persecute those who disagreed with him (1 Timothy 1:13).

But then Paul met Jesus. On his way to arrest and kill more Christians, there on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Paul, then called, Saul.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”
And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
Acts 9:4-5

The vision left Paul blind for three days. Led to Damascus, Paul met a Christian named Ananias, who also received a message from Jesus to lay hands on Paul, helping him regain his sight. Ananias was, understandably, hesitant at first.

But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Acts 9:13-15

Paul was chosen by Jesus – this former murderer was hand-picked by God – to do two things: to preach the name of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, kings and Israelites; and to suffer for that same name. And here in Ephesians 3, Paul refers to this episode, calling it God’s grace.

For Paul, his salvation in Christ and his service to Christ were one and the same. For Paul, speaking the gospel and suffering for the sake of the gospel, were one and the same. They were given him in accordance with the grace of God.

He did not deserve to be saved. And in a way, yes, he did not deserve to suffer. But not in the way, you or I, would say, “I don’t deserve to suffer.” For Paul, his suffering came hand in hand with his salvation. In another letter to the Christians in Philippi, he writes:

For it has been granted to you for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also to suffer for his sake.
Philippians 1:29

The word “granted” here is actually the word “graced” (echariste). It means that God has given you one gift – one grace – in two parts: to trust in Jesus, and to suffer for Jesus. Both were from God. Both were God’s grace. Paul didn’t deserve his suffering. It was “graced” upon him by God.

The question on everyone’s minds is: Surely, this only applies in special cases like Paul? Verse 4 says, he is a “minister” of the gospel. There you go! He’s a minister. Ministers are pastors, bishops, what-have-you. In the NIV, the same word is translated, “servant” (diakonos). It’s actually a very, very common word found repeatedly in the gospels and the New Testament letters. It just means servant, or employee. In many cases, it even refers to a waiter.

That is, the weight of Paul’s commission is not to be found in that one word, “servant”. It’s in the gospel. Of this gospel – this precious message of Jesus’ death of the cross, which announces God’s kingdom and brings outsiders into that kingdom – of this gospel, Paul is made a waiter. He just serves it up. That’s the waiter’s job – not to add a little something to your dish or dress it up. Paul’s job as a servant of the gospel is to get it out. To pass it on.

And if you are in any way, speaking the gospel to your friends, to the kids at Sunday School, at Rock Fellowship to your brothers and sisters – not just up front on Sundays with a microphone – but even in the car on the way to Tesco’s for your weekly shopping; you need to realise, it’s a privilege. God is graciously using you to make known the most important message in the universe about his Son. It is a message we are entrusted with to speak clearly and honestly. It is a message that God empowers us to know by his Spirit. It is a message that is often rejected. It is a message that often gets us into trouble.

It is a message of God’s salvation, of God’s plan. Of God’s grace. And Paul says, it is a message that gives us boldness in God’s presence.

3. The boldness of Paul’s suffering – our glory

So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realised in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
Ephesians 3:10-12

There is a radical transition that occurs in verse 10 onwards. Up till then, it was Paul who was called to preach the gospel. Up till then, it was Paul’s ministry in bringing to light for everyone God’s plan hidden for ages past (verse 9).

But now, it’s the church, not just Paul, who makes this gospel known. Now in verse 10, it’s the church preaching not simply to the world, but making God’s wisdom known to the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” What’s going on?

There are two staggering implications to this transition.

Firstly, the gospel gives birth to the church. That is, in preaching the gospel, men and women are gathered around the Word of God as the church.

We often get it the other way around. We sometimes think that we need to get Christians together to come up with a new message every now and then to be packaged as the gospel. Or we assume that since our church has been around for so long, we must be preaching the gospel. In so doing, we've gotten the means mixed up with the end. Only the gospel produces the church. The church can never ever produce the gospel, for the gospel is the eternal unchanging message of the one salvation through the death of Jesus Christ. What we do with the gospel is guard it from error and proclaim it in faithfulness.

How is this important? In missions and evangelism, the preaching of the gospel is central, and I could go more into that. But instead, I want to mention just one very relevant issue. What are you looking for in a church? Here in Cambridge, students hop from church to church looking for various things: good music, friendship, the kind of coffee they serve during the break, how long the sermon is. As you consider these factors in the church you are hoping to settle in, the question you are really asking is: What is the purpose of this church? What can this church do for me?

I suggest to you, that's the wrong question. The real question you should be asking is: Is the gospel being preached?

You see, if you really believed that the gospel produces the true church, then you would be looking for the gospel. Jesus says that he will build his church and he does so (as we saw in last week's passage) "on the foundations of the apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 2:20) which is again, a reference to the gospel witness to the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whatever state the church is in: if it is preaching the gospel, God by his grace will build his church. It may not be big and the coffee might be lousy - but if the gospel is there, God will build his church. The danger is: you may be looking at what may appear to be a vibrant church, but which has no evidence of the gospel; no centrality of the message of the cross. Such a gathering is a very dangerous one to be in. For they have taken the gospel for granted and foolishly taken the glory away from God.

Look for the gospel. Or better yet: preach the gospel. For God uses the gospel as means to building his church.

So the purpose of the gospel is the church. Not many Christians would have a problem with that statement, I should think, but some may with the next: The purpose of the church is not the gospel. Rather the church stands as the result of the proclamation of the gospel as a testimony to the fullness and completeness of God's plan in Jesus Christ. That is the second point.

Secondly, the gospel is the announcement of God’s final plan realised and full victory achieved in Jesus Christ. “The rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” – do you know what that’s talking about? Paul makes a fuller reference in Ephesians 6:12 where he tells Christians, “For do we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

What the gospel is doing then is announcing God’s victory in the face of his enemies – even “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The gospel says: God has won. We see that on the cross where Jesus takes on the full judgement of the world upon himself and defeated death, decay and the devil.

But we also see that one other place – and this is the staggering reality revealed in Ephesians 6:10 – we see that reality of God’s full and final plan realised since creation, in the church. “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known.”

When you look around you, and you see sinners deserving judgement, now standing firm in their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, looking forward to the day of his return – you see the evidence that God has won. That guy should be condemned. That girl should be an outcast. But in Jesus Christ, they are loved, accepted, redeemed by his blood.

God wants his enemies to see that. There! These men and women are the evidence and proof that when Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished!” all of God’s purposes in salvation and judgement were truly accomplished. Why? Because these men and women – though weak and helpless sinners – stand bold and confident before the throne in Jesus Christ.

In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
Ephesians 3:12

Verse 12 is kind of over the top language: boldness, access, confidence. It is God saying, “Come on in!”

Dare I ask: Are you in God’s presence? Are you in Christ? Do you approach the Almighty Judge of the Universe with boldness? With confidence?

It was God’s eternal purpose that in Christ Jesus, you are able to do so, right here and right now. It is God’s statement to all who oppose him, and who oppose you because you are in him, that Jesus was victorious on the cross. You stand by grace if you are standing in Christ.

Which brings us to verse 13, which is Paul’s closing statement: Don’t give up!

So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
Ephesians 3:13

This week at Rock Fellowship we ended by talking about what our non-Christian friends see when they look at us as Christians. Some of us admitted, “They don’t see much that’s different from everyone else.” We could all think of someone who is nicer than us. Someone who is more generous. And even when it came to suffering, we could think of a few non-Christian friends who were in much more challenging situations than we were.

It is tempting as Christians to try and outdo our non-Christians friends, even with a sincere desire to show how much God’s grace has changed our lives. So, we make a special effort to be loving and patient to say, the person in class who is meanest to us.

But you know, the unique thing we see in this passage is not that Paul is suffering in prison – I’m sure there are lots of other people in the neighbouring cells – but why. Paul knows the reason for his suffering, he is able to communicate it clearly to us, he is even able to encourage us through his suffering.

That’s unique. That’s different. And that’s very helpful.

So by all means, do be extra nice to that mean guy in your class. But when someone asks you why, what will you say? “Oh, it’s just nice to be nice.” Or, “I’m paying it forward.”

Or will you say, “That’s what I looked like to Jesus when I rejected him as God. And this is just a small part of what Jesus did for me on the cross even when I was his enemy.” You see, that’s different. That’s the gospel.

Here, Paul is saying something not many people can say, honestly or with conviction. I’m suffering for the gospel. I’m suffering for your glory; without a hint of self-pity, I might add, but with every intention of encouraging these Christians to stand firm in the gospel.

You see, the reaction Paul is looking for is not, “What a brave man, that Paul is,” but “What an amazing God we have in Jesus Christ”. If Paul is still standing in the gospel; if God is keeping him faithful even in these difficult circumstances; then God will be just as faithful and loving in my life through Jesus Christ.

And friends, that’s just Paul stopping for a moment to address the problem of suffering. Stick around and find out what he says next when he talks about God’s love.

Heavenly Father,
Thank you that in Jesus Christ
Even our suffering has a purpose
To bring glory to your name
And encouragement to those around us
Help us always to trust in Jesus alone
Who bore all our suffering and pain
All our condemnation and shame
On himself when he died on the cross
So that now I can stand before you accepted
Confident of your love
And bold in your presence
We ask this in Jesus’ precious name
and for his glory alone,
Amen.

God of war (Judges 15)

After some days, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. And her father said, “I really thought you had utterly hated her, so gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”

And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”
Judges 15:1-3

Samson isn’t the kind of guy you want to upset. You want to make sure he is always happy. You want to make sure he never ever loses his temper. Because Samson’s a lot like the Marvel cartoon character, the Hulk. “When Samson angry... Samson smash!”

And that’s the reaction of his father-in-law in the beginning of the story here in Chapter 15. Samson visits his wife with a gift – a young goat (maybe she might have appreciated some chocolates instead, but a young goat was a thing of value) – and this picks up from the events of his wedding day back in Chapter 14. There in verse 19, Samson in “hot anger” went back to his father’s house, but not before killing thirty men to steal their clothes in order to repay a bet he had lost on his wedding day.

But now Samson is back. The goat’s probably his way of saying, “Sorry for leaving you at the altar, honey... oh, and for killing all those cousins of yours on the way home. No hard feelings.” What Samson doesn’t know, of course, is that his wife has been given to another man (his “best man” according to 14:20) by his father-in-law.

The reason for this? Verse 2: “I really thought you utterly hated her.” After all, Samson was the one who walked out on his wife – on his wedding day of all days. The marriage was not even consummated (hence verse 1, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber” – that’s what he had come to take care of). So, Daddy thought, Samson must not have wanted her at all and gave her away. It all sounds rational. It all sounds reasonable, even. After all, Dad managed to save his daughter from dying an old maid. But then look at what Dad says next, “Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”

You see, these two daughters were to their father as that goat was to Samson. They were just things of value. “Take this daughter instead,” Dad said to Samson in an attempt to placate him, to appease his psychotic murdering son-in-law who could easily tear him limb from limb. Samson brought a goat; Dad brought out his younger daughter. Same thing.

But it didn’t work. Verse 3: And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” Meaning: “Now, I’m really mad.”

But also, what Samson meant was, “Now, I’m right to get mad.”

So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.
Judges 15:4-5

How he did this, I have no idea. Samson rounded up 300 foxes, tied them up in pairs by their tails, somehow attaching a flaming torch between each pair. Presumably the foxes would then try to run off in opposite directions but end up zig-zagging through the fields setting fire to the grain in the process. It was mad and yet it was also quite brilliant. Samson single-handedly destabilised an entire nation’s economy. He destroyed all their food supplies (both the “stacked grain” as well as the “standing grain”). He even targeted their olive orchards, which, for an agrarian society, was at the very heart of their wealth. There was method in his madness.

Samson wanted revenge and he knew where to hit where it hurt.

Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
Judges 15:6

Last week we saw how Samson’s wife was forced into the impossible situation of either betraying her husband or risk being burned with her father’s household. “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is,” they said to her in 14:15, “lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire.” She did what they told her to and yet here we read that they burn her anyways. Notice that it wasn’t just Dad’s fault for making Samson mad. “The Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.”

For Samson, it was yet another reason to get mad.

And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you and after that I will quit.” And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Judges 15:7-8

Samson was not out for justice. He wanted vengeance. He says, “I will be avenged.” You have done this – not to my wife; not to her family – you have done this to me. What followed was more violence and more death.

At the heart of all this is a guy who simply does whatever he wants. Worryingly still, he gets away with it. When kids throw a tantrum, they might hold their breath or start chucking food on the walls, but there’s a limit to the destruction they can cause. The adults know that, and more importantly, the kids themselves learn that over time. But this guy doesn’t. He does whatever feels right. In Chapter 14, he sees a Philistine girl he likes and that’s reason enough to take her as his wife – irrespective of his parents’ wishes, irrespective of God’s wishes. That’s what his father-in-law was getting at when he pushed his younger daughter in front of Samson, “See, see... isn’t she more beautiful in your eyes?” The people around Samson know him well enough. They know that he is one huge walking appetite that constantly needs filling up. There is no right or wrong for Samson. Everything is about what Samson wants and what Samson needs. That’s his justification – for anger, for rage, even for murder.

And yet what we are going to see next is God using Samson’s appetite and sinfulness for God’s sovereign purpose. What we are going to see is God’s will fulfilled not in spite of Samson anger, but through his selfish anger – to reveal God’s plan and to bring about God’s salvation.

But first, in order to do that, God is going to use Samson to spark a war!

Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”
Judges 15:9-11

Samson’s really done it now. What started out as a bar-room brawl has now escalated into a full-fledged war between two nations. The Philistines deploy their tanks and military forces to the borders of Judah in an attempt to find and capture Rambo, and understandably, the people of Judah are freaked out to wake up the next morning only to find a battalion of  tanks parked up their front driveway! “Why have you come up against us?” they ask. The answer? One single man is responsible: Samson did this to us and we have come to repay the favour.

The people of Judah are shaking in their boots. So what they did next was motivated purely by fear – they were fearful of war. They were fearful of destruction by a superior force. And yet, what we also see is that the men of Judah were immensely fearful of Samson. They gather 3000 men, not to face the enemy, but to betray a fellow countryman. There at Samson’s hideout, the rock of Etam, 3000 men stood surrounded one man, Samson, just to bring him in and turn him over to the enemy.

If you look back to the very beginning of Judges Chapter 1, there we see Judah leading the charge into enemy territory. Judah was the strongest and bravest of all of the clans of Israel, defeating an army of 10,000 men in Bezek (Judges 1:4). And if you look ahead to verse 16, we find out the number of Philistine soldiers encamped at the border of Judah – one thousand men. That is, here are 3,000 men of Judah fearful of an army one-third its size; here is Judah, 3,000 men strong but fearful of one man, Samson. In the book of Judges, the tribe of Judah start out bold and courageous. They end up fearful and cowardly.

They say to Samson – almost matter-of-factly – “Don’t know the Philistines are rulers over us?” Here is a generation that has accepted defeat. Here is a generation which has chosen not to fight. They have given up and given in to another power – not God, but man. The Philistines are rulers over us – that’s a pretty damning statement. The Philistines are in charge now, not us. And definitely, not God. In their minds, it’s Samson who needs to get with the program.

For the past few months at Rock Fellowship we have been journeying through the book of Judges and what we have encountered again and again are cycles of our sin and God’s salvation. Each generation of God’s people go through cycles of (1) rebellion against God through idolatry and sin; they face (2) judgement from God who hands them over to their enemies; they then (3)cry out to God for help in repentance; (4) God answers by sending a judge to save them; (5) there is momentary peace in the land; (6) the judge dies and the people soon forget God’s help and fall back into sin.

Look how this generation of Israelites began back in Judges Chapter 13.

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Judges 13:1

It is the beginning of a new cycle. Israel did evil before God. God punished Israel by giving them over to their enemies. But then? Nothing. No cry for help. No repentance before God. God does, however, raise up Samson as a judge – from birth, I might add – but this is not in response to any form of repentance or call for help. And two chapters later, here in Chapter 15, we find out why.

“Don’t you know the Philistines are rulers over us?”

The Israelites had given up. God was no longer in charge over their lives; the Philistines were. It was a pitiful situation. The fear of man had led a whole generation of believers to compromise their faith in God. The fear of man had led these Israelites to betray one of their own brothers. Even Samson could see this. He had to ask them for an assurance that they would not kill him themselves. For the first time in the story, we see a hint of fear in the mighty Samson, or should I say, shame. He is fearful of their betrayal and ashamed of their cowardice.

And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
Judges 15:12-13

“We will surely not kill you,” they say to Samson. All they would do was hand him over to be killed. All they would do was tie him up, escort him outside of their border and surrender him into the hands of the enemy. That’s all they would do. They were rationalising their sin: “We aren’t going to hurt you.” They were justifying their sin, “There is nothing else we can do. The Philistines are in charge.”

But the truth is: God is the one who is in charge. And God would do something about the situation.

When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
have I struck down a thousand men.”

As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.
Judges 15:14-17

Samson takes down the entire Philistine army – single-handedly! It’s like the opening scene of one of those Hollywood movie trailers where the deep-voiced commentator goes (ala James Earl-Jones), “One man... against impossible odds! One man against an army, armed with nothing else.... but a jawbone!”

Now, in case we miss the turning point of the story, don’t forget that just moments earlier, Samson was fearful of his own people’s betrayal. Moments earlier, Samson was bound “with two new ropes” and escorted to the border by 3,000 Israelite soldiers.

And as he approached the Philistine forces , they celebrated their victory over Samson! “The Philistines came shouting to meet him” (Judges 15:14). “We have won!” they thought.

But then we read, “The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon (Samson)”. God empowered Samson with super-human strength. And in case we missed how extraordinary God’s intervention was, it even tells us that his hand-cuffs turned to jelly: “The ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire.” God unmistakeably did this. God turned the tables on the Philistines.

You might even say: God caused this war.

Not Samson. Yes, his selfishness and thirst for vengeance led him from one conflict to another. But God chose this guy to be the judge. God empowered him with his Spirit. God made the ropes on his hands fall apart. Samson was God’s means to God’s end.

Not the Philistines. Yes, they had overpowered this generation of Israelites. But right from the beginning of Judges 13, it reads, “The LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines”. God empowered the Philistines, too, enabling them to rule over Israel.

And certainly not the Israelites. They shrank away from the fight. They had given up the fight, even though God had commanded them to subdue the land. But God steps in, raises a judge and trouble-maker who is Samson – a man who, certainly loves to fight – and starts a war between the two nations.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Samson is far from perfect. In fact, Samson is downright selfish, impetuous, proud and sinful. But that does not mean that God is unable to use Samson for his purposes to save.

To save? Yes, to save. In fact, that’s the word Samson uses in the very next verse. He calls it a “great salvation”.

And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore, the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is in Lehi to this day.
Judges 15:18-19

Salvation means rescue. Rescue from harm. Rescue from evil. Rescue from death. That’s what it means to be saved. Salvation means rescue.

But here the bible is giving us a bigger picture of what it means to be saved. It is the defeat of evil. It is the defeat of God’s enemies. It is the defeat of death. The picture the bible paints of salvation here in this episode of Samson’s life is that of war and conflict.

The “great salvation” by the hand of Samson was a great act of violence. He killed 1,000 men and pilled their bodies in a mound so high, he could even sing, “Heaps upon heaps... have I struck down a thousand men.” It was a brutal, bloody, gory scene of death. But in that we see a picture of the great salvation God had given Samson – the death of this army. Samson marks his victory by naming the hill, Ramath-lehi, which means Jawbone Hill (We’ll look at the significance of that in just a few moments).

But also, we see God’s great salvation in a second scene right after – in the giving of the water to quench Samson’s thirst. “And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it.” Samson names that place too, En-hakkore – “The spring of him who called”. That too, was God’s salvation come to Samson, but this time it was a scene of God’s great patience and generosity with Samson.

Samson is still Samson. He is doing what is right in his own eyes – he isn’t thinking, “How can I do God’s will and help my people turn back to God?” Absolutely not! He is taking revenge on his enemies and boasting about his own strength. “With the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” I did this. Me.

Also, don’t miss the significance of the jawbone. The narrator takes great pains to describe how “he found a fresh jawbone... and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.” The fact that it was fresh meant that it was probably still bloody and was part of a corpse. And Samson’s parents had been instructed since his birth to make sure that he kept his vows as a Nazirite, one of which involved never-ever touching a dead corpse (well, actually this was a blanket prohibition for all Israelites). Samson goes out of his way to defy God’s word. Yet the amazing thing is he ends up doing God’s will.

Even when calls out to God in thirst, it looks like a ridiculous situation doesn’t it? “God, you have saved me, but now are you going to let me die?” We might be tempted to give him two tight slaps to wake him up from his stupidity. What does God do? God miraculously splits a rock to open a fresh spring of water. What does Samson do? He boasts! He names that place “The Spring of the One who Called”. Not “The Spring of the One who Answered”. No, it’s Samson who rang the right number, who got God to answer on the phone, and who was responsible for this miraculous spring of water. This was Samson’s spring.

Samson is still Samson. But God is still God.

He is the God who saves his people even when they reject him. He is the God who hears his people when they cry out to him. He is the God who is patient, gracious and loving towards men and women who are sinful, rebellious and ungrateful. God is still God.

We forget that often and easily. When circumstances change. When we change. We forget that God is unchanging in his holiness, his power and his love. God is always holy. God is always in charge. And God is always gracious and loving even when we are not.

And what the bible does is remind us again and again that God is God.

1.       God is our ruler
Not the Philistines. Not your overbearing boss at work. Not even if you live in a country run by dictators and corrupt politicians who oppress you because of the colour of your skin or the God whom you worship. God rules over all kingdoms, all parliaments, all presidents. He establishes all governments to ensure justice and peace. They may fail in this regard, and leave them in power long enough, they will fail. But God is always in charge.

The truth of this hits home when you consider nations with rulers and governments who do not acknowledge God’s sovereignty. Romans 13:1 says, “There is no authority except from God.” That includes the United States. That includes North Korea.

In such situations we remember Jesus who said to Pilate, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:11) God had given Pilate, the Roman governor, the authority to execute Jesus on the cross. Even through the events of the murder of his Son, God was sovereign. God was in charge.

And like the Israelites in Samson’s day, so the Israelites at Jesus’ trial, denied that God was in charge over their lives. What did they cry out before Pilate when he taunted them, “Shall I crucify your King?” (John 19:15)

“We have no king but Caesar.”

With that last damning statement, they crucified Jesus. They had rejected him as the Christ. They had rejected God as the King. Yet in doing so, Pilate and the chief priests and the people of Jerusalem and the Roman guards and the executioners and the friends who abandoned Jesus and even Judas who betrayed Jesus, were all doing the will of God. God was sovereign over the cross. Jesus was crowned through his crucifixion.

The cross reveals the ultimate rejection of God as King. The cross displays the ultimate sovereignty of Jesus as the Christ.

2.       God will defeat all his enemies
The salvation of God’s people means the defeat of God’s enemies. That was what happened in the Exodus – the Red Sea which gave safe passage to Israel was the same waters that swallowed up the entire Egyptian army. That was what happened here in Judges: one moment the Philistines are rejoicing over their captive, Samson; in another, Samson is standing over a mountain piled with their bodies.

And the bible tells us the certainty of this final judgement comes to us through the cross of Jesus Christ.
“He had fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
(Acts 17:31)

The cross is God’s announcement, not simply that Judgement will come, but that Judgement has already come. God has fixed the day. God has appointed Jesus, the man. We know this how? Because God has raised Jesus from the dead.

3.       God will save his people
The last verse of Judges 15 reads, “And he (meaning, Samson) judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.” (Judges 15:20)

Samson is the anti-hero. No one voted for him. No one asked for his help. Yet God chooses Samson from birth to be saviour and judge over a people who do need help; who do need a saviour, whether they are willing to admit or not. In the face of man’s rejection and sinfulness, God is still gracious to save.

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance,” the apostle Paul begins in 1 Timothy 1:15, as he summarises the message of the gospel, “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” And then he adds, “of whom I am the foremost.”

Who did Jesus come to save? Sinners. Who are you if you call yourself a Christian? A sinner.

Jesus did not come to save good people, moral people, righteous people – because there are none. He came to die for and to take the sin of rebellious people. Bad people. And if you are a Christian, that’s you. That’s me.

God is gracious. I am sinful. And Jesus came for me. That’s how the gospel works.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-6)

As tempting as it is to stop here, I think this passage from Judges 15 requires us to think more about how God works in response to our fear of man and our inaction over sin. In particular, many may read these verses and be troubled by a blood-thirsty character like Samson and how God actually uses him to stir up trouble at a time of relative peace. And yet as uncomfortable and perhaps, as embarrassed, as we may be as Christians, with such descriptions of violence and war today, we forget that this is the context of the book of Judges. Indeed, it is the very language of the bible.

Each generation of believers in Judges finds new reasons to shrink back from the mandate given by God to subdue the Promised Land. Each generation shrinks back from the battle. And in each and every generation, God raises an Othniel “who went out to war” (Judges 3:10), an Ehud who assassinates the Moabite king (Judges 3:12-30), a Deborah who has to kick general Barak in the backside to get him to launch an attack on the Canaanites (Judges 4-5), the timid pimple-faced Facebook-addicted hacker, Gideon, whom God calls a “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12) and ends up taking down over 120,000 men in battle (Judges 8:10), and now a Samson, the superhero with a short fuse. With each judge in each generation, God is leading his people back into, and not away from, the war.

Some dismiss such language as archaic. It’s just the Old Testament, they say, when God was angry and men were uncivilised. They say that Jesus came to preach peace, love, joy, happiness – not war, destruction, death. And yet this is the same Jesus who says to his disciples, “Do not think I have come to bring peace on the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) Or at Christmas-time when we read that the angels proclaim Jesus’ birth to the shepherds, singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” we miss the verse before describing them as a “multitude of heavenly host”, which could be just as accurately translated as a multitude of “armies” – a reference to the common expression found in the Old Testament of God as the “Lord of hosts”, which simply means the God of armies. These are God’s angelic military forces announcing the coming of the Commander-in-Chief, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the most striking image of war and conflict is found in the pages of the last book of the bible. Revelation 12:7 reads, “Now war arose in heaven,” followed by a great struggle between God’s angels and the devil, pictured as a red dragon in opposition to God, and especially towards Jesus. Almost immediately, however, we find out that the dragon and his minions are defeated (Revelation 12:8), and Satan is thrown out of heaven. “Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them!” There is victory in heaven. Not so, on the earth. “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short!”

The devil is defeated. But precisely because he knows this, it tells us that he goes off to “make war... on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17)

It is saying this: If you are in Jesus; if you hold to the message of cross – the devil has you in his sights. What do you do? Verse 11 says you overcome the devil with the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
Revelation 12:11

The Christian life is a battle. Against the devil. Against the world. Against sin. And the only weapon we have at our disposal is the only weapon we need. It is the gospel. Jesus Christ has conquered the devil. Jesus Christ is the true king of heaven and earth. And Jesus Christ has taken my sin, given me new life and lives in me through his spirit. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ is the victorious saviour over the devil, death and sin through his work on the cross on my behalf.

And until he returns on that final day of judgement and salvation, Jesus Christ enables me to stand by grace, through faith, on this gospel of peace.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:10-13

Our call to war to love the captive soul
But to rage against the captor
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valour
When faced with trials on every side
We know the outcome is secure
And Christ will have the prize for which He died
An inheritance of nations
(“O Church Arise”, by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)

Only by grace (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Understanding grace

The hardest thing for a Chinese person to read in this passage is not the bit about sin. It’s not even the part where it talks about the devil leading us into sin. And while I do think that many of the aunties and uncles in church today might be shocked at the mention of death in verse 1 – where it says, “You were dead in your transgressions” – and they will go, “Choi! Choi! How can you talk about death during Chinese New Year?!” Still, that may not be the hardest thing for us to hear today.

No, I think the hardest thing for an Asian person to hear and understand is Chapter 2, verse 8.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8

It’s saying this: Salvation is free. The word Paul uses is “grace”. He calls it “the gift of God.”

A Chinaman hears that something is free and he goes, “Free? Is there something wrong with this ‘free’ gift?” In a culture which puts a premium on hard work, receiving something for nothing – or for free – just sounds lazy. There must be a catch. There must be something wrong with it (Like the expired food section in the supermarket).

Or the other extreme might be that we hear that something is given away for free and we tell our kids, “Take! Take! Ask for some more!” Like the big banquet of Chinese food we are going to have right after this. We see the roast duck and go, “Wah! Take as much as you can!”

As Asians, we have a hard time understanding the value and the purpose of something that is free. Because nothing in life is free. That’s what our tradition, our elders and everything in our own experience teaches us. Either we work hard to earn that good life and we work hard to earn that money. Or we take advantage of every opportunity – get as many red packets while you still can, fill up the plate with as much roast duck and char siu before it all goes – so as not to waste that opportunity. Why? Because our culture teaches us: Nothing is free. If it is free, either there’s a catch or it’s not going to last forever.

But when the bible talks about God’s free gift of salvation, it is describing the most valuable thing we could ever receive from God. This is the most expensive, the most costly and the most precious gift that God offers us in Jesus Christ. And it comes to us for free.

Or to be more exact, the bible says, it comes to us by grace.

Grace means undeserved love. It is giving the best that you have to the worst person you know. That’s what God did for us in Jesus Christ. He gave the best gift to the most undeserving people. And that is how verse 1 begins.

You were dead

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Ephesians 2:1-2

Who is Paul talking about? You. “You were dead,” he says. Not that guy over there. Not the embarrassing uncle who turns up once a year at reunion dinner. You. You were dead in your transgressions and your sins.

But you might say, “I’m not dead. I came to church. I had cornflakes for breakfast. I updated my Facebook status.” That is, we think that death means lying in a coffin buried in the ground six feet under (and therefore being unable to update your Facebook status). But verse 2 says you used to live (or, literally “walk”) in death. That is you can be physically alive and yet be spiritually dead to God. One of the biggest insults in our Chinese culture is to say, “That person is dead to me.” (In Cantonese we say, “Lei hoi seii ah” – Go and die!) What does that mean? It means that I’m not going to acknowledge you. I’m not going to greet you. When you come to reunion dinner tonight I am not even going to look at you. You are dead to me.

That’s what the bible means by death. We are unresponsive to God. We live this life given to us by God, but we live it as it there is no God. The way we eat our food, the way we go to school, the way we talk to our friends reflects a life that says: God is dead to me.

Now I do apologise for the language. It’s not nice to wish that someone were dead. But isn’t the bible describing something true? Don’t we see this every year at Chinese New Year? Everyone should get along. Everyone should be loving. And yet, everyone gets stressed during Chinese New Year. When the family is gathered, when everyone is together – that’s when the most hurtful words come out; that’s when selfish actions do the most damage. We can’t help ourselves. This condition of spiritual deadness hits home not simply when we are alone at the end of the day and we feel dead tired – that’s not what it’s talking about. It’s when we are most alive and joyful when our hate-filled thoughts and unloving actions are the most obvious. We can’t run away from it. We might put on an act to hide the truth. But all the bible is doing is being honest about who we are and what we do – to one another and to God.

Paul says there are three reasons for this. Three reasons for our spiritual deadness: (1) the world, (2) the devil and (3) the flesh.

“When you followed the ways of this world,” verse 2 reads. You look around you and you say, “That guy’s doing it, why can’t I?” Other people are acting this way, so it’s OK for me to act this way as well.

“When you followed… the ruler of the kingdom of the air.” The devil deceives us into rebellion. That’s why verse 2 goes on to describe him as “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” The devil has one single purpose: to get men and women to say, “No!” to God. “I will not obey.” He makes us question God’s goodness. He makes us doubt God’s motives. That’s what he did with the first man and woman in the garden of Eden. “Did God really say that?” Hmm, God can’t be serious, right? “God knows that if you eat this fruit you will be like him, knowing good and evil,” meaning God is just being selfish; he doesn’t want to share this knowledge with you. The devil says the exact same thing to us today – he is now at work, it says at the end of verse 2 – in those who are disobedient.

And finally, verse 3: “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” We follow the world. We follow the devil. But here it says, we follow the “cravings of our sinful nature.” It’s saying, even if you locked yourself away from every bad influence in the world – which is what a lot of Chinese parents try to do out of sincerity and out of fear as they try to protect their kids from Justin Bieber and rude Channel 4 TV shows like the “Inbetweeners” – It’s saying that even if you did all that, there is still an enemy inside of you. We follow the cravings of our sinful nature. Our natural instincts will always, always lead us in a direction away from God. Sin and death is encoded into our spiritual DNA. It’s who we are.

That’s why verse 3 ends: “Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” It’s just a fancy way of saying: God is angry with us. He has every right to be angry. Now, I guess I could put that in a nicer way and say something like: We have natural destructive tendencies that lead us down the wrong track – but that would be a lie. God is angry when he sees me sin, when he sees you sin. And God has set a day when he will personally punish all who have sinned. “All of us” lived this way. “All of us” were objects of God’s wrath.

This is news for some of you. Maybe no one has ever told you that God is angry with the way you live you life. You think that as long as you try your best God will do the rest. You think that if no one can see God will leave you be. You think that everything is OK now so it will all be OK in the end. The bible says you are dead. Dead in your sins. Dead towards God. Following the world, following the devil, following your sinful nature – following everything and anything except God. God is angry with you and that’s news for some of you.

But the good news of the bible is this: God is also loving.

But God

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4-5

Everything changes. Before, we were dead but now God made us alive. Before, we were objects of his wrath but now we are objects of his love. And the turning point of this change is grace. “It is by grace you have been saved.”

And if you remember, I said at the beginning that grace means undeserved love. Grace means giving the very best to the very worst. When God saves, he is showing his love to the worst people on the planet. “Even when we were dead in transgressions.” God is like a dad who adopts the worst kid in the orphanage – the one who always gets into trouble, the one who doesn’t want to be adopted, the one who looks at his new dad and says, “Huh, I don’t need you. I wish you were dead!” – and God says to him you will be my son and I will be your Father and I will love you.

God does this out of his great love. Not because of who we are but in spite of who we are and because of who he is. God is love, the bible tells us in 1 John 4:8. It even tells us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God sacrificed his own Son so that we might be adopted as his sons and daughters in his family. That is what it means when the bible says the God loves us.

Another thing I said in the beginning was that this is hard to accept. Change? What change? We Chinese are very practical people. If there’s a change that works, we’ll change. No problem. Whether it’s upgrading to a new phone or changing our favourite brand of soy sauce. If you can show me a better product; if you can show me that it works; I’ll change!

But the hard thing is this, and I wonder if you’ve ever felt this way, you look at the Christians around you and say, “There is no change. I am Chinese, they are Chinese. I rush for the food. They also rush for the food. In fact, I think in some ways I am better than these so-called Christians. I work harder. I am nicer to my mum and dad. Yah, sure they have a nice party once a year and it’s fun to join them for Chinese New Year. But change? Come on. What change is there to see?”

Should Christians change? Yes, they should. Should they be different, more loving, more compassionate, more patient? Absolutely. But you see, that’s not grace. That’s effort. Grace means these Christians here were just as sinful as you – if not more sinful than all of you – when God called them. Grace means that no one deserves to be saved.

And most of all, grace does not mean a changed life. Grace results in new life. It is a life that is lived with Christ. Look at verse 6:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
Ephesus 2:6

Verse 6 is saying “Look! Look at the change!” But look where? Not here on earth. Not at the Christians. Verse 6 is saying: Look to Jesus. God raised Jesus up from the dead. God appointed Jesus Lord over all things. The bible is saying: If you see Jesus, that’s where you see the real change in happening the Christian – we are made alive with him, we are raised with him, we are seated with him in the heavenly realms.

Look to the Christian and all you should see is a big sign that says “Work in progress”. Some people need whole lot of work! But God is working in the life of the Christian to change him to be more like Jesus. But look to Jesus – that’s perfection. He is the destination. He is the end point.

And the amazing thing is, because Jesus is already died on the cross, because Jesus already rose from death and because Jesus is already seated in heaven at God’s right hand right now, the bible says that’s where the Christian is. We are already in heaven, we are already raised, we are already perfect. If you are in Christ, that’s what God sees when he looks at you – perfection! Why? Because if you are in Christ, God looks at you and he sees Jesus.

Oh, you might still sin. In fact the truth is you will definitely sin. But Jesus paid for that sin. You will make mistakes – big, huge, embarrassing mistakes. But Jesus paid for every single one of those mistakes – past, present and future – when he died on the cross, so that as far as your salvation is concerned, everything is paid for. It’s like turning up at the restaurant and before you order a single thing off the menu the waiter comes to you and says, “It’s all been paid in full.”

And get this: this displays God’s grace even more clearly than if you were perfect right now. If you are a non-Christian here today, you are not meant to look at the Chinese Church and go, “Wow, everyone here is perfect. Perfect people, perfect food, perfect sermon (yeah right!)” But I hope you will look at the Christians here and be amazed, “How on earth did that guy become a Christian? Who let that person into the church? What is that idiot doing preaching up in front?” And then I hope that you hear God’s word speaking clearly to you, saying, “It is by my grace that these men and women have been saved,” and your heart goes, “Whoa!” Not at us, but “Whoa!” at God. You go, “Whoa! Jesus died on the cross to save these guys? Why would he do that?”

To display the glory of God’s grace. You see sinful people, you see Jesus’ perfection and God’s spirit opens your eyes so that you see clearly the grace of God.

Grace as the means, and especially, the end of salvation

In order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:7

Verse 7 says that the purpose of salvation is to display “the incomparable riches of God’s grace” in Jesus Christ. Grace is not simply the means of salvation, it is the endpoint of salvation. I’m guessing that might be something new to many of us today.

We will often hear that Christians are saved by grace. But what the bible is teaching us here is an even greater truth: We were saved for grace. God saved us so that he could clearly display a very awesome thing; a very amazing thing that captures all who God is – his power, his glory, his transcendence, his righteousness – that one thing which God wants to display and God wants us to behold at the end of time is… his grace!

Meaning: this is not an evangelistic sermon – at least not primarily. This is a worship sermon. How do you praise God fully for who he is? How do you worship God such that he will accept your praise? You focus on the grace of God displayed on the cross. “To the praise of his glorious grace” – Chapter 1, verse 6 reads, then adding these words – “which he has freely given us (or literally, ‘graced us’) in the One he loves”. We praise God for his grace in sending Jesus to the cross. Grace is not simply the means of salvation; it is the endpoint of salvation.

Paul is writing these verses to believers. He is not speaking to non-Christians asking: Do you know how to be saved? Rather he is addressing Christians: Do you know what you are saved for? You were saved for the praise of God’s grace. That’s your purpose in life - that others might look at you and give all the credit and all the glory to God. The focus is not on you – on your salvation –the focus is on God – his glory and his grace!

And it’s when we don’t know this that we end up focussing on ourselves. We lose sight of grace, and we boast about our works.

Not by works, only by grace

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

This then, is the opposite of grace. It is the opposite of God’s free gift of salvation, which is works. It is the opposite of worship, which is boasting. And if we’re honest, it sounds completely opposite to our Chinese culture. Why? Because as Chinese we take pride in our hard work. As Chinese, we boast that we are not afraid to put in the hours to get the job done. Salvation is by God’s grace, not by works.

And yet, look to the very next verse, and there we see that work is good! What’s going on?

For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared for us in advance to do.
Ephesians 2:10

So, the bible isn’t saying that Christians should run away from work. If anything, it gives us a new motivation to work – and to work hard – because God’s the heavenly boss man. It even says there that God has prepared works for us “in advance” – meaning, there’s always something for us to do! But the bigger picture is that God invests a new meaning into work. For us as Christians, it’s worship. It’s a response to God’s grace shown to us on the cross. It is a fruit of our salvation.

What work isn’t – as verse 9 clarifies – is the means to our salvation. We could never earn our salvation. The one and only basis of our salvation is God’s grace. God did all the work through Jesus’ death on the cross. He conquered death and sin and the devil.

This is important because God hates boasting. Boasting steals the glory away from God. Boasting implies that we earned our way into heaven, that we were worthy to be saved; and that’s completely false. That is completely offensive to God.

It all comes back to our understanding of God’s salvation through God’s grace alone. And as I said right from the beginning, this is hard. For us as Chinese, that’s hard. For us as the Chinese Church, that can be especially hard; because it can be all too easy to start out wanting to serve God in ministry, to start out wanting to help by cooking for today’s Chinese New Year feast, in practising for the performances, in teaching at Sunday School – but to end up boasting of our own works by saying, “Come to my church. The people here are so nice. The food is fantastic. The children in Sunday School are so well-behaved.” These are not bad things, of course, and I am personally looking forward to the siu yok (roast pork) afterwards! I do want our Sunday School kids to grow in obedience and in love. Yet in all this, we may unintentionally be drawing the focus back to ourselves. We end up boasting about our achievements. We end up singing our praises.

Paul brings the focus back to God. He reminds us: We were objects of wrath, we were sinful, we were helpless – but God was merciful, God was loving and God saved us by sending Jesus to die for us on the cross. When the focus is back to God’s grace, only then will we see our sin. When focus is back to God’s grace, only then will we find our assurance in Christ. When the focus is back to God’s grace, only then will God receive all the glory, all the power, and all the praise.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8

Only by grace can we enter
Only by grace can we stand
Not by our human endeavour
But by the blood of the Lamb
Into your presence you call us
You call us to come
Into your presence you draw us
And now by your grace we come.

Knowing God (Ephesians 1:15-23)

The purpose of Paul’s prayer

For this reason since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in all my prayers.
Ephesians 1:15

I am not a fan of golf. I had a teacher once who called golf the Game Of Lazy Fellows – G-O-L-F. You spend all day running around chasing a little ball. But if there’s one thing that’s worse than watching a game of golf, it’s listening to someone go on and on talking about golf. Zzzzzzzzzzz!

Today, I’m going to be talking about prayer. Not the most interesting topic for some of you, if you’re honest. Cage fighting? That’s cool! Dr Who? Awesome! Prayer? Meh.

And that’s because prayer for you is boring; prayer for you is confusing. You’ve been to prayer meetings where there’s little praying and lots of gossiping. You’ve had someone say to you, “Let’s pray about it,” when what they mean is, “Let’s not do anything about it.” Or you’ve come to a church like this and a guy like me stands up front, closes his eyes, raises his hands and says, “We beseech thee, O Lord!” Understandably, you think that prayer is all about speaking big words that no one understands to someone that no one sees.

The passage we are looking at today is one long prayer but – get this – it’s not talking about the importance of prayer. The apostle Paul is not saying to Christians, “You need to pray.” What he is saying is “You need know God”. If you do not know God, you cannot pray. If you do not know God, it would be impossible for you to pray.

Meaning: the reason why many people do not pray or why many people find it hard to pray, is simply because they don’t know who they’re praying to. They do not know God.

Paul prays for one thing – and just one – in verse 17: that God would enable us to know him.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17

A prayer for believers

Now most people think that this is a prayer for non-believers – “God please reveal yourself to my non-Christian neighbour and speak to him during the sermon today.” The truth is: this is a prayer for Christians. “Ever since I heard about your faith in Jesus,” Paul says in verse 15, “and your love for all the saints.” Meaning: here are Christians – probably new Christians – who love Jesus and love their church. That’s who Paul is praying for. “I have not stopped thanking God for you,” he says. Every time he thinks about them, he says, “Thank you, Jesus for saving them.”

But then he says, “If there is one thing that I ask God for on your behalf,” – the most important thing for you to have as a new Christian or a young Christian – is that you really know God as your Dad. “I keep asking,” he says, “that the glorious Father may give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” That’s what the Holy Spirit does in our lives as Christians. He reminds us, “You belong to God. God looks at you and he sees his son; he sees his daughter. What he sees is Jesus.”

Do you know this? The real question is not “Do you pray?” but “Do you know God?”

Knowing God

And what Paul does next is expand on this one idea of knowing God. He says:

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18-19

He lists three things we need to know about God. All three place an emphasis not on us, but on God.

Firstly, God calls you. “The hope to which he has called you,” Paul says. Earlier on in verse 12, Paul describes the first believers as those who put their hope in Christ. But here he says, really, it’s God who called you to that hope in that first place. Anytime you have doubts about your faith. Anytime you start wonder if you are really a Christian. Remember this: it was God who called you as a Christian. He chose you from the foundation of the earth. He put his Spirit in you. Paul says, I pray that you guys have this certainty; that you know this truth.

Secondly, God loves you. “The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” It’s easy to misread this and think it’s about our treasure in heaven, since Paul is talking about riches and inheritance. But it’s not our inheritance Paul is talking about, but God’s: The riches of his inheritance, verse 18 says. And what he’s saying is you are his treasure. You are his investment, paid with the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. God loves you that much!

Thirdly and finally, God empowers you. “His incomparably great power for us who believe,” Paul says. It’s almost like Paul is saying, “There’s just no way to measure this – it’s incomparably great!” “But,” he says, “if I had to describe this power, then I’d describe it like this:” Look at verse 19:

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 1:19-20

It is power to raise Jesus from the dead. It is power for Jesus to rule at God’s right hand with all of his authority; with all of his majesty. “That’s the power I’m talking about,” Paul seems to be saying. That’s the power “for us who believe.”

Do you know this? The fact is that many Christians probably don’t – They do not know about God’s call, God’s love and God’s power working in their lives. They don’t get it. Otherwise, Paul wouldn’t have had to pray this prayer. The question for us today is: Do we know this?

Paul says, “I have not stopped thanking God for you” (verse 16). “I keep asking God” for this (verse 17). It’s not the kind of prayer you say once and then forget about. We pray for all kinds of things – our exams, our health, the weather. I wonder if the most common prayer we say is over food, “Thank you for this char siu pao.” Now Paul does say at the end of Ephesians Chapter 6 to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests,” so it is OK to pray for your exams, it is good to pray for next week’s Chinese New Year event. But the question is: what is the one thing to pray about?  What is the most important thing ask God for?

It is to know God.

That God would reveal himself to us by his Spirit, through Jesus Christ, so that we might know him better. “God, help me to understand.” That’s not hard, it’s being honest. In Mark 9:24 a man comes to Jesus saying, “I believe, help my unbelief.” There’s an honest guy. That’s an honest prayer. I trust you, Jesus. Please help me to trust in you fully.

As Christians, we enter into a relationship with God. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we have all the answers, but it does means that God helps us to grow in our trust and love of him, the way a kid learns to love and trust his dad – in a relationship with him in his home. In the same way, God helps us by giving us his Spirit, by guiding us in his Word, by changing us to be more like Jesus. What’s encouraging about this is how it is God who works in us to help us grow in knowing him. It’s not something we do by our own strength because we can’t. Paul prays for God to reveal himself; for God to open our eyes by his Spirit.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

I keep asking that God… may give you the Spirit of wisdom and understanding
Ephesians 1:17

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
Ephesians 1:18

Two aspects of knowing God: We need to understand; we need to see. But Paul says we need the Spirit in order to understand. And we need God to open the eyes of our hearts in order for us to see. The question is: How do we see with our hearts? What are we meant to see… with our hearts?

Last week, we read of another physical sense back in verse 13: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” That’s something I hope we’re doing now. We are hearing with our ears; we are hearing the word of truth – that is, the gospel. But Paul is saying that something else needs to happen in addition to hearing this message. We need to see with our hearts. Paul explains this further in 2 Corinthians 4:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:4,6

What Paul is describing is the gospel. We hear the gospel preached – plainly and clearly from the bible. And we hear it with our ears. But God opens our hearts so that through the gospel we can see the glory of Christ. Both need to happen: the preaching of the word of the gospel and the breaking in of the light of the gospel into our hearts.

Meaning: if any of what you’ve heard so far makes sense; if even one thing in today’s message makes you goes, “Wow, I never know that before!” – that is the evidence of God’s Spirit working in you; revealing himself to you. That’s what Paul is praying for the Christians in Ephesus. That the eyes of your hearts be enlightened – which is funny word – it means, that light will come into your heart, otherwise you’re blind. Otherwise, everything’s just a blur. It means that without God’s help, you’re sitting there listening to the exact same words, looking at the exact same text in the bible and you’re thinking, “This is boring. Why would anyone believe any of this?” But if God’s spirit is working in you, you hear the gospel and you read the bible and your heart goes, “Jesus is awesome!”

My job is to show you what’s right here – in the bible. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:2, we set forth the truth “plainly”. I’m just the guy who delivers the pizza to the door. I’m not supposed to add any special ingredients. I did not come up with the recipe. I serve you best by just getting the gospel to you plainly and clearly.

Maybe that’s something we should keep in mind next week during our Chinese New Year celebration. There are going to be lots of people are coming. There are going to be lots of expectations. And there’s going to be a lot of pressure: to put on a good show, to make a good impression, to make sure everyone has a good time. We need to be careful of the pressure that says the gospel is not enough. That say people are not going to understand the gospel. That says we need to something more interesting, more attractive to draw people to Jesus than what the gospel can offer.

Paul says what we need is for God to shine the gospel into our hearts to see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ”. It is not something we could ever do. Only the Holy Spirit does this. Only God can do this. And if there is one thing we need to pray to happen next week – it’s not that the food gets ready on time, it’s not that the music is compelling – all these are important, but what is the one thing that needs to happen next week? It’s for God to open their hearts and our hearts to see Jesus as amazing. Glorious. To hear this message of God taking our sin and wickedness and filth and dumping it all on Jesus and taking all his righteousness and glory and transferring it to our account, and for us to hear this truth and respond by saying, “That’s unbelievable! That’s cool!” That’s what we need God to do.

Paul never stopped praying for this. He really loved these Christians and what he wanted most for them above all else was for this church to know God better. If you know Jesus and love someone – a family member, your best friend, someone you care about, someone you are concerned about – there is no greater prayer you could pray than this: that they know the God who made them and the God who died for them on the cross. There is no greater prayer you could pray.

I began by saying that this passage is not Paul telling us, “You need to pray,” but him urging us by saying, “You really need to know God”. But the flipside is this: If you do know God, you will pray. You will pray for others to come to a saving knowledge of God by his Spirit through Jesus Christ. You will pray out of love for people. You pray out of the knowledge of God’s love. You will pray this prayer, if you know how precious and awesome it is to know God as your Father and Jesus as your Saviour. You will pray.

But finally, Paul ends his prayer by talking about God’s plan. That is, knowing God’s plan will stir you to prayer for God's people.

God’s plan and Christ’s fullness

He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the age to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 1:20-23

God’s plan is for all things to be under one headship: Christ Jesus as Lord. That’s the direction everything is heading towards – even those in opposition to Jesus as King. That is what Paul means by “rulers, authorities, powers and dominions” – these are spiritual forces that continue to rebel against God. All things will be under Christ’s feet, and Christ will be head over everything. That’s the plan.

But then the prayer ends on an unexpected note: “for the church” (the end of verse 22). He goes on further to elaborate that the church is “his body” and “his fullness”. What does this mean?

Some of you know that many of our brothers and sisters from the English Congregation are away next week. These include many of our mature Christian brothers. These include many of our leaders, musicians and bible study leaders. So, I received an email last week from a concerned member asking me, “Are we going to have a meeting next week? It’s Chinese New Year, everyone is away and only a few people will come.” In truth, I get asked this question every year and I do honestly struggle with the answer every single year. I wrote back to say, “This is one of those things we do in service not to the many but for the few.”

In other words, it’s an opportunity to serve the way Jesus did: Leaving the ninety-nine sheep in search of the one lost sheep. It is an opportunity to show our Christian brothers and sisters that they really do matter to Jesus, individually and corporately.

God places all things under Jesus’ feet – he is the King, he is the Christ, but he does so “for the church”. It is meant to be an encouragement that God is in control. The few who turn up next week at the English Service, they are his body. They are no less the people of God. And verse 23 says, “his fullness” is with them. When we gather in Jesus’ name, we do not lack a single thing. His fullness fills everything in every way. Often, we learn the preciousness of that truth not in times of plenty but in want.

Paul prays. He prays for God to fill these young Christians with the knowledge of himself. But he also prays that these Christians would be filled with the fullness of Christ. Do you know this? If not, why not come clean. Why not say to God, “I believe, help my unbelief. I just want to know you better.”

Amen.

All I once held dear, built my life upon,
All this world reveres and wars to own;
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best,
You're my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.
(“Knowing You, Jesus”, Graham Kendrick)