B, Post Pentecost 14 Proper 16 - John 6:57,63-64a & Ephesians 6:12 "To Truly Live in this Life"
If we are to truly live in this life, we do so by allowing
the Holy Spirit to give us life in Christ, in his Word.
In John chapter six Jesus says, “As the living Father sent me, and I
live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because
of me.” (John 6:57 ESV)
The life Jesus lives occurs because of God our Father. In turn, whoever feeds on Jesus Christ lives,
because Jesus’ life is eternally begotten from our Father in Heaven.
All life occurs and continues to occur because of God the
Father.
Here there's a natural progression of being fed. Jesus is living
because of the Father, and we are living because of him, because Jesus is the
living bread. Without Jesus the living are the walking dead. They trust in their own flesh for life!
The Holy Spirit gives us life in the resurrected flesh of
Jesus because Jesus didn't trust in his flesh.
Or any other flesh for that matter! He trusted in the Father. That's why
Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is
no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But
there are some of you who do not believe.” (John 6:63–64a ESV)
In his flesh, Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit, and we are
called to do the same, and conquer as Jesus conquered in the weakness of his
flesh!
Saint Paul speaks to the Ephesians about heavenly
places. There was confusion, as to
where this heavenly place was. This was
because the Ephesians were listening to and being indoctrinated by the works of
those whom John refers to in Revelation as “the
Nicolaitans”. Literally their name
means (nikē) conquering
Laodiceans. And the name, Laodicea,
breaks down into two words (laŏs) people
of (dikē) (law, judgement, punishment, or
vengeance). (Revelation 2:1-7)
The Nicolaitans were folk who conquered and coerced the
Ephesian Christians with laws of judgement, punishment and/or vengeance. These Nicolaitans could have been migrant
Jews from whom we hear of the sons of Sceva in Acts chapter nineteen verse
thirteen to twenty. Or pagan Ephesian
tradesmen, from the latter half of Acts chapter nineteen, whose idol making
trade was put in peril by Paul preaching Jesus Christ as “the way”. Judgement, punishment, and vengeance was
sought against those who made converts to “the way” and took customers away
from buying their idols.
Whoever it was that tempted the Ephesians away from their
first love, Paul calls the Ephesians back to the heavenly place in which they
stood in Christ, and to cover their weakness, by standing firm in the armour of Jesus Christ.
The heavenly place was not with the Jews, nor was it the spectacular
heavenly looking temple of Artemis that loomed large and ignited Ephesian
emotions.
In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul quickly cuts
to the chase. He says to the troubled
church in Ephesus, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for
adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of
his will, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3–5,10 ESV)
He continues, “even when we were dead in our
trespasses, (God) 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 2:5–6 ESV)
Paul defends his apostleship against the Nicolaitan type rulers
and authorities in the “heavenly places”, saying, “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, so that through the church the manifold
wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the
heavenly places. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family
in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his
glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your
inner being.” (Ephesians 3:8,10, 14-16 ESV)
This inner being is the New Man, Jesus Christ, worked
within by the power of the Holy Spirit against all other powers and
principalities. Paul reminds the church
in Ephesus that they are united by the Holy Spirit and not by human
spirits. It’s no different for the
church today, nor was it for the nation of Israel before Jesus Christ
came.
There might not be division amongst the people, but if they
are divided against God, his word, and his way, if the body is divided from the
head, Jesus Christ calls the faithful to separate from the body that refuses to
recognise evil, nor accepts the healing pierced hands of Jesus, for their sin
and error. When there is division those
who are genuine can be recognised. (1 Corinthians 11:19)
Jesus calls for division from the world and its powers and
principalities to be united with him. In
being divided from the world, Paul reinstates the power and principles of true life
as one with the Father and the Son, in the Holy Spirit, saying, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope
that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4–6 ESV)
The division of the faithful from the world, from those who
through reinvestment in the powers and principles of the human spirit,
individual or corporate, allows the Holy Spirit through the faithful to once
again demonstrate the genuine true life of forgiven and fed disciples. Those
who become like the nations are once again discipled with God’s word, so the
Holy Spirit might bring them back to the word of forgiveness needed for true
life.
Paul glorifies Jesus over all heavenly places, so all trust
is returned to the powers and principles of Jesus Christ, saying, “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens,
that he might fill all things.” (Ephesians
4:10 ESV)
Jesus is the only true source of life having been raised
from the dead and seated over all powers and principalities, physical and
spiritual, good and evil. He is the head
of the church. The church is his body.
Wherever Jesus is, there, is the one true heavenly place. The fullness of true life comes from Jesus and
glorifies Jesus.
The Master of all things is in this heavenly place. God is
impartial! Those of the body who partially
remain under Jesus Christ using his word to justify their partiality and lead
others away from God, tempt God in a way that’s dangerously close to sinning
against the Holy Spirit. As we heard
last week, Paul warns us to, “Look carefully then how you walk,
not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days
are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord
is.” (Ephesians
5:15–17 ESV)
Those who want to be with Christ in this life and the next,
don’t use foolish gut instincts! But rather acknowledge the need to clothe
themselves in him to protect themselves, “against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)
Paul uses a play on the words “heavenly places” in his
letter to the Ephesians. Any heavenly
place not bound to Jesus and his word is not heavenly but a deadly hoax. You’re called away from them all! The sinful self, the self-destructive world
and the evil one, to the heavenly place Jesus has won for you in his victory
over death in his resurrection.
The clothing of ourselves with the armour of Christ is a
Holy Spiritual protection from all spiritual evils that not only lurk out there
within the unseen spirit world, but also from within us, in our flesh, and in
the church where the devil works his hardest!
Many left Jesus when he called them to put off their flesh
and feed on his true life-giving flesh that submitted to and conquered death. Today many leave the church trusting in the
idols of the flesh — their goods, their intellect, their abilities, and the
pleasure of their senses. You are called to discern what the will of the Lord
is, knowing that the flesh is no help at all.
Rather the flesh delivers one with their idols to eternal nothingness. That’s eternal separation from God and his
goodness.
Jesus tells us that in the last days the antichrist will
set himself up in God’s church. Paul
tells Timothy at Ephesus that many will be led away from the truth to suit
themselves with itching ears, myths, and passions. The seriousness of the situation is such,
both pastor Timothy and the parishioners at Ephesus were called to be sober
minded in God’s word.
So too for pastors and parishioners today!
Just as Jesus put off his divinity, and trusted the Holy
Spirit, making him nothing in the flesh, dead and buried. He too calls us to true life, by putting off all
deceitful divinity in ourselves which leads to nothingness and eternal
suffering and death.
To put aside all powers and principalities — human,
worldly, and evil spirited — and allow the Holy Spirit to clothe you and defend
you with the armour of Christ, that’s been tempered and strengthened with the
Holy Spirit in the testing fires of the cross.
God is impartial, in holy justice and holy love! Those who trust in themselves and place
themselves at the mercy of powers and principalities other than God’s, do so to
their own detriment. Those who allow the
Holy Spirit to remain and keep them repentant under the cross and in the word
of God, will receive their due in Jesus’ holy work.
To whom shall you go? Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour! His word is spirit and life, for this life, and for eternal life. Amen.
