Sunday Leftovers (7/3/11)

Ask someone what some of the main themes of Ephesians are, and you will likely receive answers like salvation, family, how to relate to others, the church, spiritual armor and warfare, and theology.  But it’s unlikely that you’ll hear the answer, “love.”

Yet love is a dominant theme in this letter.  The word “love” appears more often in this book than any other New Testament book with the exceptions of 1 Corinthians and 1 John.  The statements:

• In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons (1:4-5)
• Because of the great love with which he loved us, He extended His grace to us (2:4ff)
• Christ’s love is so great it “surpasses knowledge” (3:19)
• One of the primary means by which the church grows and matures is through love (4:16)
• We are His beloved children, and so we ought to imitate Him (5:1)
• Because of His love, Christ gave Himself up for us (5:25)
• Because He has called us as His children, we tolerate and love one another (4:1-2)
• We speak the truth to each other in love (4:15)
• We build up and forgive and are gracious to one another (4:31-32)
• Because Christ loves us, men, we love our wives (5:25, 33)
• Because He loves us, we can (and must) love Him (6:24)

The first half-dozen references are primarily statements of the particular love of God for His people.  The final statements are implications of that love for believers.  Since God loves us in these ways, how are we to conduct ourselves with others?  In other words, Paul affirms the doctrine of God’s special divine love for believers and the implications and applications of that love for believers.

What should we do in response to the love of God for us?  A couple of implications dominate.  First, cultivate your own love for Christ.  We began this study with a consideration of Rev. 2:1-7.  We do well to remember the warning from that passage that it is possible to do all the right things without a love for Christ.  We do well to remember that not loving God brought discipline from God.  And we do well to remember that Paul’s final words in this letter are a desire and call to the Ephesians to cultivate an unceasing love for Christ.

Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. (Eph. 6:24)

And within a generation, those words were forgotten and unheeded.  Duty was present.  Love was not.

So here is a question:  Do you ready your Bible and pray and evangelize and give financially to the church and other ministries and teach AWANA and make meals for shut-ins and give benevolent gifts to the needy and write missionaries and cut your neighbors grass because you love Christ or only from a willful duty — “I ought to do this, though I don’t really want to do it”?

There are many things in life that are needful, but loving and pleasing Christ is first.

Secondly, rest in the statements of God’s love that affirm the reality that God is for those who believe in Him.

No, you do not merit God’s love, but as a follower of Christ, you have it and you do not need to earn it.  Too many spend too much time fretting whether God really loves them.  If they are His, He does.  The two plaques that hang in my office say it well — “I am His,” “He is mine.”  And that will not change.  That cannot change.

David Powlison has an encouraging statement on this very topic in his book Speaking the Truth in Love:

God’s past grace to sinners demonstrates that he is for us. How do you know God is for you? He did not spare his own Son (Rom. 8:31-34a). This good news is not simply for giving birth to Christian life and experience. What Jesus once did continues to reshape what we do. For example, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 identifies past grace as the power at work in transforming our present Christian life:  “The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.” Do you want to face yourself, change, and learn to live a new life? Past grace gives you the ability to fearlessly see yourself in the mirror of God’s gaze, and gives you a reason to become different. You don’t have to avoid looking or candy-coat your failures. You don’t have to wallow in them either. Past grace never lets you forget that God the merciful Father is for you. Past grace keeps inviting you to trust him. It gives you confidence that today’s sins will be freely forgiven too. It assures you that God will help you change now, and will someday finish what he has begun.” [p. 42.]

As you think of the message of Ephesians, there are many themes and wonderful truths; but don’t overlook the needful theme of love — the love of God for His people and the love of His people for Him and one another.