WHO DOES THIS 'EPHESIANS' FELLA THINK HE IS!@#%!

It may well still be the best-selling book of all time – and continues year-by-year to be so – but certainly is not the best-read of our current times! If there was ever any doubt about this, the events this week in Hobart, at St. Mary’s (Catholic) College Girl’s School, should remove all doubt! A furore erupted over the news that the prescribed Scripture reading for the year-end graduation celebration, which incorporated a Mass, was “Wives submit to your husbands” taken from Ephesians. Callers into ABC radio’s breakfast program decried this assault against women – especially young, vulnerable girls. One caller, responding to the news that the text being used was a citation from Ephesians, denounced Ephesians and apparently demanded, “Just who does this Ephesians bloke think he is?!” Another caller stated, “Why are they quoting ancient Roman philosophers in the twenty-first century?!” And yet another caller somehow linked all religious wars to passages like this one in the Bible! He remarked, “I’m an atheist. All wars are started by those who are religious! No war was ever started by atheists!” (Perhaps he had never heard of Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Vladimir Putin, who were collectively responsible for the deaths of over 20,000,000?) This furore led to the Archbishop conceding that the Ephesians passage did not have to be used at the graduation ceremony. But this furore has highlighted just how unaware many Tasmanians are about what the Bible is, what is actually says, and why it says it. And I am now about to correct this deficiency.  

IS THIS REALLY A FURORE ABOUT EPHESIANS?

To say that the Tasmanian Archbishop, Julian Porteous DD, has been in the cross-hairs of those who object to the moral teaching of Christianity might be the biggest understatement you will hear today. He has faced opposition at every turn – from the media, the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, from unwitting Catholic school-girls (who drew the rainbow flag in chalk on the pavement outside their school as a demonstration against the Archbishop), and from those who salute the rainbow flag. He has faithfully defended what the Bible teaches about: the value of human life; human sexuality and gender; the sacredness of marriage between a husband and wife; and the liberty that everyone has to live out their religious convictions in the public square.

It is my suspicion that the particular text from Ephesians has been used many times previously in many other Catholic School assemblies and even graduations. So why now did it become so objectionable? It might also be my suspicion that this is yet another possible attempt to oppose Archbishop Porteous. To his credit, the Archbishop was quick to diffuse this furore by replacing this particular Scripture reading.

 

SOME INTERESTING AND LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT EPHESIANS

It is apparently a little known fact, at least here in Tasmania, that Ephesians was not a Roman philosopher. It is a similarly little known fact (again in Tasmania) that Ephesians was actually an epistle (a letter) written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians living in the Turkish city of Ephesus. 

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
¶ To the saints [Christians] who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus
Ephesians Chapter 1, Verse 1.

Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is one of the twenty-seven divinely inspired documents of what is called, The New Testament. When scholars begin to examine a New Testament Epistle they begin by asking, What was the occasion, the reason, for the epistle to have been written. In asking this question of Ephesians scholars point out that a believer’s relationship with Jesus the Christ effected every relationship they had with others.

In Ephesians chapter 1, The Christ has made a relationship with God the Father possible (eg. Eph. 1:3-4).

In Ephesians chapter 2, The Christ has made a relationship with people who are ethnically and culturally different possible  (eg. Eph. 2:12-13).

In Ephesians chapter 3, The Christ has made relationships within a church comprised of other previously unfamiliar Christians possible (eg. Eph. 3:6).

In Ephesians chapter 4, The Christ has made a relationship with those God has placed as leaders within the church possible (eg. Eph. 4:2-4, 12).

In Ephesians chapter 5, The Christ has made a loving and lasting relationship between a husband wife possible (Eph. 5:28).

In Ephesians chapter 6, The Christ enriches the relationship of a parent with child/ren (eg. Eph. 6:1-4).

Hopefully you can see from this quick survey of The Epistle to the Ephesians that it is built around our various relationship and how people can get along and serve others. And just to quell the furore over the one verse in Chapter 5, I would like to conclude by taking a look at its context and then explain why it would have been not just appropriate for the St. Mary’s Girls College for it to have been read during their October 25th graduation celebration, but actually quite profoundly helpful for every young girl to know.

 

HOW EPHESIANS CHAPTER 5 REVEALS THE SECRET TO A HAPPY AND FULFILLED MARRIAGE

To the credit of the ABC Tasmania journalist, Loretta Lohberger, she actually cited not just the contentious verse at the centre of the furore, but quite a bit of its context. Having already drawn attention to the overall context of this Epistle as dealing with how we relate with others, it important to note that before the Apostle Paul (under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit) tells wives to respect and submit to the husbands, he states this in the verse before it–

¶ And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:21

Paul then explains how his overall point (that a relationship with Jesus the Christ enhances all of our other relationships) applies to a marriage relationship. He states that marriage is actually given by God as a picture of the closeness that God the Son (Jesus) wants with all His followers (the Church, comprised of all believers). A Christian’s relationship with Jesus is likened to the relationship between a husband and a wife. This is a relationship of mutual surrender (submission).

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Ephesians 5:32-33

Jesus demonstrated the ultimate surrender by willingly dying the death that we all deserve. At the heart of what it means to love is the word surrender and serve the other. There is simply no greater example of this in all of human history than what Christ did on the cross of His crucifixion nearly 2,000 years ago! Thus, when the next verse instructs wives –

¶ Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:22

In its context it is saying, wives love your own husbands just as Christ has taught you what love really is. It goes on to speak to husbands with the even greater challenge –

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Ephesians 5:25, 28

Husbands are instructed to love their wives by their complete surrender to them! This is the kind of love that protects, treasures, listens to, seeks to understand, selflessly serves, and prioritises his wife’s highest good and best interests. What woman would not want a husband like that? The injunction to wives to submit to their husbands presupposes that their husband has already demonstrated his submission and love for her. And when it comes to a young lady preparing to embark on what she should rightfully expect to be a lifelong journey of marital happiness, she should never commit her life to any man who has not already demonstrated his preparedness to love her like Christ has, and continues to, love His bride: the Church.

So let’s sum what we’ve learned. Ephesians was not an ancient Roman philosopher. Ephesians is the name of an Epistle in the New Testament of the Bible. Most wars were not the fault of the Bible passages such as Ephesians 5:22. The verse at the centre of the St. Mary’s College furore is far from demeaning to women — it is in fact the basis for a happy, fulfilling, lifelong marriage with a husband who commits to love his wife as Christ loves all those who are part of His Church, His bride.

And, if you are someone who would like to become familiar with and understand the Bible, I invite you to join me in a short daily YouTube video where I read through a portion of the Bible and give some background to it [VIEW].  

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

HOUSE (of God) RULES

Our theme for this year is Welcome home and there’s a good reason for it. I pray regularly that God will bring into our church the hurting, the lost, the lonely, and the broken. What these people will need most is: love, care, support, understanding, acceptance, friendship, and rules. These are the things that a good home provides and they are also what our church can deliver. But it will mean that we will have to be very clear about the rules for achieving this because hurting, lost, lonely, and broken people are all too often hardened, bitter, self-pitying, and very negative people who don’t live with ‘house rules’. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he went to great length to explain to them what the church was, what people could expect  from church, how a church was led, how a church helped a believer to grow and become like Christ, and the rules for living within the ‘household of God’.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God
Ephesians 2:19

HELPING THE HURTING,LOST, LONELY, CONFUSED, FRIENDLESS, & BROKEN

If you’ve fostered a child, you’ll understand what I’m saying. Children who are made wards-of-the-State have often been hurt in unimaginable ways and quite possibly have never experienced true love. When foster parents offer to take in such a child, it is often heart-breaking for all concerned. A child who is hurting, lost, lonely, confused, friendless and broken, is hard work—just ask any foster parent who has attempted it!

in whom [Christ] the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:21-22

When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he was writing to a church comprised of Jews and Gentiles who saw the world very differently and came from radically different backgrounds, and often didn’t get on very well to put it mildly. But Paul tells them that Jesus has now “broken down the wall of hostility between them” and brought them together into the church.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Ephesians 2:13-14

While Jewish converts were familiar with God’s moral laws and even His instructions for how a family should function, these Gentile converts in the Ephesians were not. Paul later tells the Ephesians that when it comes to selecting elders, you should only consider the candidates who “have one wife” and “have their household in order”. This gives us a clue that there were possibly many in the Ephesian church who, in typical Roman practice, may have been married to several wives (polygamy) and quite probably had several ‘concubines’ (‘sex-slaves’). In setting the church in order, Paul describes what families should look like: parents who love each other; parents who love their children; children who obey their parents; fathers who teach their children about life and God; and how the family unit is a bastion of spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness. And all the while, this single, celibate, apostle, has an even bigger picture in mind: what the local church should be like. Despite being comprised of people who have just come out of lifestyles of immorality or religious arrogance, he sees the local church as a big family where everyone must learn to live in Christ together (Eph. 2:5; 2:21; 2:22; 4:16).

In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22

Paul’s strategy for healing the broken was to minister Christ to them by the power of God’s Word. This was because what the hurting, lonely, self-pitying, despondent, really needed was not what they themselves thought they needed — more attention, more popularity, better looks, more money, more wishes to come true — but the True Source of Satisfaction to their deepest and greatest need: Jesus. 

In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit
Ephesians 1:13

That He might sanctify her [the church], having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word
Ephesians 5:26

THE POWER OF THE WORD WITHIN THE COMMUNITY OF THE CHURCH TO BRING HEALING

People who are hurting and consequently feeling misunderstood and isolated, often become very bitter. In the Old Testament there is a story about a school of prophets who were served a stew that was very bitter and tasted like poison (bitterness is indeed a poison and it causes hurt people to hurt people). They called on Elisha for help. He instructed them to take meal (a very finely ground flour) and cast it into the bitter stew (2Kings 4:41). When they did this, the bitter stew became safe and savoury to eat. This is a picture of what the Word of Christ does to a bitter and broken soul. He and His Word takes a bitter, lonely, hurting soul and transforms it into a healed, whole, and attractive soul. Thus, Paul told the Ephesians- 

¶ Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Ephesians 4:25-31

HOUSE (of God) RULES

Based on the above passage we can see that the Apostle Paul gave the Ephesians some important ‘house rules’ for their church. We might summarise the house rules of Ephesians 4:25-31 in this way-

• Speak the truth – leaders should not shy away from correcting the wayward
• Don’t withdraw if someone in the church upsets you – if someone innocently offends you don’t let your anger lead to the sin of slander (especially if it was a leader) 
• Forgive quickly – unforgiveness gives the devil an foothold in a church to weaken its effectiveness
• Be a contributor – both within the church community and in the world so that you can share with anyone in need 
• Speak positively about the church – let your words build others up not tear them down
• Cooperate with the Holy Spirit – Christ has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to assist in the outworking of His plan of redemption through the church, therefore resist the Devil’s temptation to be a rebel and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in praying for your church (remember, bitter criticism and slander is your admission of prayerlessness)

In the meantime, please continue to take a moment to welcome those who are new to our church then be on the look out for those who may feel left out. This is what families do, especially church families, and it’s what makes a house a home.

 -Pastor Andrew