I talked with our oldest daughter, who shared that they spent the weekend camping in a very rustic campground of Massachusetts. They had a great time. Their oldest daughter, our first granddaughter, read a book from the library and presented a book report. She won three tickets to the Boston Red Sox game at the Fenway Park, so Jeremy, Micah, and Simeon spent part of the weekend at the Ball Park. Meanwhile, Janice and Ada spent the afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts, one of Ada's favorite places. Praise the Lord for summer ... Sweet summer.
The Epistle Reading for yesterday was taken
from Ephesians 6: 10-20. John Calvin, the 16th century reformer, once talked
about how the Scriptures are our eye-glasses; the Bible is the
lens through which we can begin to see the world as it should be seen. The
Scriptures provide us with a corrective lens so we can see the details of the
world and of our culture, and so we can see more than simple shapes and shades.
We can begin to see the beautiful intricacies that make us human, those
complexities that bind us together with others in a society. There are lines of
connection, of relationship, criss-crossing through us and all around us that
make up the world in which we live. Scripture offers us a corrective lens so we
can train our eyes to see all the interesting connections, and all the confused
messiness that makes living with others sometimes difficult.
We all need new eyes, or at least eye-glasses, to help see these things, and that is exactly what Paul gave us in language that serves as corrective lenses that help us see the world—language that helps us think about the world. He said, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 12). The world we live in is full of mystery and wonder.
Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian, talked about the Bible as “a strange new world.” He wrote, Scripture takes us out of “the old atmosphere of man and into the open portals of a new world, the world of God.” What Barth said about Scripture in general is quite true about our passage from Ephesians 6 in particular. The strangeness of this text begins to work on our eyes as a sort of eye therapy. The words and images message the eye muscles so we can begin to see the world differently and enter a strange new world where the old world is transformed .
This is the invitation of our passage from Ephesians: what happens when we look at the world around us from a different perspective, from the vantage point of Christian world view..... this strange new world where “our struggle is not against flesh and blood (as we usually think), but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Through this passage we begin to see things differently.
The Lord of the battle wants us to see the world through the lens of war. We are in a cosmic struggle. It is written that we need to wear armor, God’s armor. Furthermore, we get a list of what makes up our armor: a belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes, a shield, a helmet, and finally the sword of the Spirit. We are in the midst of war. In fact, we are on the front lines. Even though the terrain does not resemble that of the Middle East, we are, nonetheless, at war. We are locked in a cosmic struggle that is just like the war we read about in the newspapers but with key differences. It is the same but different. Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.” We don’t fight against flesh and blood, against humans, against people like us. We fight against powers of darkness, rulers in heavenly places.
The good news is that Christ has come, and the world we thought we knew is now disrupted, shaken up, transfigured. New life now runs through the fibers of creation and everything is being mysteriously redeemed. Jesus messes with our senses. He complicates our vision. He shows us that there is a whole lot more we don’t know that we thought we knew. Jesus shows us that there is much more to learn, much more to see, if we trust his leading.
Everyone is vulnerable to the schemes of the evil one, even those who count themselves as followers of Jesus, and that means us. That is the reason it is written in Ephesians: “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-11). All of the pieces of the armor listed have to do with resisting the enemy, about standing firm: belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, and a helmet, but then there’s the last piece: a sword. It’s the only offensive weapon in the list, and that weapon is “the word of God,” given by the Spirit of God (verse 17).
In Christ,
Brown
https://youtu.be/jcDC4vLw23k
We all need new eyes, or at least eye-glasses, to help see these things, and that is exactly what Paul gave us in language that serves as corrective lenses that help us see the world—language that helps us think about the world. He said, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 12). The world we live in is full of mystery and wonder.
Karl Barth, the great Swiss theologian, talked about the Bible as “a strange new world.” He wrote, Scripture takes us out of “the old atmosphere of man and into the open portals of a new world, the world of God.” What Barth said about Scripture in general is quite true about our passage from Ephesians 6 in particular. The strangeness of this text begins to work on our eyes as a sort of eye therapy. The words and images message the eye muscles so we can begin to see the world differently and enter a strange new world where the old world is transformed .
This is the invitation of our passage from Ephesians: what happens when we look at the world around us from a different perspective, from the vantage point of Christian world view..... this strange new world where “our struggle is not against flesh and blood (as we usually think), but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Through this passage we begin to see things differently.
The Lord of the battle wants us to see the world through the lens of war. We are in a cosmic struggle. It is written that we need to wear armor, God’s armor. Furthermore, we get a list of what makes up our armor: a belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes, a shield, a helmet, and finally the sword of the Spirit. We are in the midst of war. In fact, we are on the front lines. Even though the terrain does not resemble that of the Middle East, we are, nonetheless, at war. We are locked in a cosmic struggle that is just like the war we read about in the newspapers but with key differences. It is the same but different. Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.” We don’t fight against flesh and blood, against humans, against people like us. We fight against powers of darkness, rulers in heavenly places.
The good news is that Christ has come, and the world we thought we knew is now disrupted, shaken up, transfigured. New life now runs through the fibers of creation and everything is being mysteriously redeemed. Jesus messes with our senses. He complicates our vision. He shows us that there is a whole lot more we don’t know that we thought we knew. Jesus shows us that there is much more to learn, much more to see, if we trust his leading.
Everyone is vulnerable to the schemes of the evil one, even those who count themselves as followers of Jesus, and that means us. That is the reason it is written in Ephesians: “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-11). All of the pieces of the armor listed have to do with resisting the enemy, about standing firm: belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, and a helmet, but then there’s the last piece: a sword. It’s the only offensive weapon in the list, and that weapon is “the word of God,” given by the Spirit of God (verse 17).
In Christ,
Brown
https://youtu.be/jcDC4vLw23k
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