“What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of getting broken apart in our lives.  The moment the organic unity of belief and behavior is damaged in nay way, we are incapable of living out the full humanity for which we were created.”

“Paul’s letter to the Ephesians joins together what has been torn apart in our sin-wrecked world.  He begins with an exuberant exploration of what Christians believe about God, and then like a surgeon skillfully setting a compound fracture, “sets” this belief in God into our behavior before God so that the bones—belief and behavior—knit together and heal.” –Eugene Peterson, “Introduction to Ephesians”, The Message Bible

Oh church, I have lived long enough to see many churches and individuals, including me, broken by behaviors unbecoming to God and in need of restoration of their belief in God. No one is exempt.  We have seen the results of the “bones of belief and behavior,” as Peterson says, left unattended or our spiritual problems patched only by human efforts and self-help programs.  We have watched with sadness as the Body of Christ limps through life, disjointed, dysfunctional, and left paralyzed by fear of change. 

Paul cannot and will not stand by and watch while the Body of Christ flounders, in need of the healing and restoration of our Great Physician.  He writes of the One who sets the “broken bones” back into place!  Paul is called to write letters to the churches to remind them who they are in Christ (belief) with what they must do (behavior).  Paul is giftedly called to begin with who they are and thank God for them.  Paul will then shift from belief to behavior with a “therefore” in most translations at the peak of his letter.  Paul loves the Body of Christ because of his love for Christ!

Ephesians 1, The Message

I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

The God of Glory

^3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

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

^11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

^13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This down payment from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

^15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

^20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND

WE ARE ON GOD’S MIND

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.” We were on God’s mind before He created the earth!  And if that isn’t enough to blow our minds, Jesus was right there with God as He created the earth and all that is in it.  God had designed a plan to save us while He created the earth and the humans who would occupy it.  Why?  All because of His great love for us.  Let that sink in! 

IN CHRIST

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for…” As the Body of Christ, our belief and behaviors are the bones of our existence in Christ. The Body of Christ is built on the foundation of Christ who died for us and set us free!

Believing in Christ, we are “signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit.”

It is in Christ that we find out our purpose for living.  It is in Christ that we find the strength, wisdom, and boundless energy to do what God has called us to be.

Everything begins and ends with Jesus Christ our Lord.  It is in Christ where new life begins.  God put Jesus in charge— “no name and no power exempt from his rule.”  Forever! 

The powerful energy used by God to raise Jesus as the victor over death has been given to us so that we may live generously and love extravagantly—just like He loves us.  This glorious living and loving can only be found and lived in Christ.

JESUS—THE SUM OF ALL THE PARTS OF THE BODY

It is in Christ alone that we find forgiveness of our sins.

It is Jesus who resets the broken bones or our faltering belief and sets us right with God personally and as the Body of Christ.  While healing, it is God’s Holy Spirit in us who transforms our behavior to match what we say we believe.  Healing and restoring takes time.  Forgiveness happens the minute we say we are sorry. 

Repent and believe and we are saved and made whole and holy by Jesus.

“He (God) set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”

“The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”

We were created to love God back both personally and corporately as the Body of Christ.  We need God.  We need each other.  “And love Each Other as I have loved you,” says Jesus.  In Christ, we are able do that—love like He loves us.

Lord,

Thank you for these words that have stirred my heart. Thank you for resetting my bones of belief and behavior throughout my life as I remain in you and you in me. Continue to cleanse my heart, renew my mind, transform by behaviors, refresh my soul with your daily, tender mercies, while you restore the joy and peace while your salvation that is at work within me.  I delight living your glorious life that can only be found in You.

In Jesus Name, Amen