Author: Bryan Richardson

Bryan Richardson is the Associate Pastor for Counseling and Pastoral Ministries at FBCSA.

Who

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:1-6 (day three)

“…one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

“Lord, to whom shall we go?” Peter once asked. His experience was that he had found the one he had been looking for all his life. Here he was, and he wasn’t leaving. Now Paul scales up this devotion to encompass not only Christ, but the entire body of Christ – the church. Where else will you go if not with the church? Paul asks, in effect. Who else will you grow with, confess to, sing with, mourn with, pray with, hope with, rejoice with, live and die with if not the church?

Real

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:14-21 (day three)

“…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

The phrase “by faith,” might seem at times very close to “by make-believe.”  Consider, though: when you’ve been many miles away from someone you love and long to be near, have you brought that person to mind and felt in your body a sense of calm and well-being as you immerse yourself in the images of past experiences you’ve shared together? Or have you had such a moment bringing to mind a loved one who has died? Is this experience real, or is it make-believe? Surely you’re not pretending to feel the warmth and comfort of the person’s presence. There is a reality in such occurrences that transcends time and space. This is the way you are made; you carry around within you those you love. And so it is with Christ. Believe it.

All

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:1-13 (day three)

“…in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord…”

Paul came along too late to have been one of Jesus’s disciples during the three years of ministry on earth. Nonetheless Jesus apprenticed Paul during the nearly twenty years between the Damascus  Road incident and the beginning of his writing and teaching. There was none more appropriate than Paul, then, to drop this bombshell revelation on the Ephesians: God’s intent all along was not a limited mission to save a fragment of the human race, but rather an expansive whosoever-will-may-come doors-thrown-open invitation to all who would come to him for healing. It was not just a sect thing,  not just a Judaism thing, but a cosmos thing. The church’s work will involve inviting all the world to Christ.

Together

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 2:19-22 (day three)

“[You] are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone…”

Jesus is so great that he doesn’t feel the need to be the only one doing everything. He actually allows others to matter. Amazingly, Paul doesn’t say that Jesus is the totality of the foundation of God’s work in the world. Rather, he’s the cornerstone, the criterion by which all things are regarded. And simultaneously, he eagerly invites you to come with him – to bring your experience, your skill, your personality, your laughter, your wounds, your beauty, your tears, your voice, your longings near to his side where you belong, expending your energy alongside his to love this world and stay with it. Jesus is making all things new, and he bids you come and make it new with him.

Declaration

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 2:8-10 (day three)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

There is nothing so disheartening as to experience rejection, with its accompanying message that you aren’t good enough, lovely enough, desirable enough, important enough, valuable enough for inclusion in a family or a friendship or a project or an assignment or an adventure. When others have somehow found the key to being a person of worth and it seems you’re relegated to the status of also-ran, that’s lonely. Christ broke through that system. No longer will people lord their significance over you and look down on your lesser status. The Lord himself — not any worldly system — has declared you treasured. Enough said.

Friends

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 1:15-23 (day three)

“I…do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers”

As Paul spent time with these fellow Christians, he began to entrust himself to them, opening himself up to friendship, a sharing of life. He could have remained transactional with them, which is less risky. When no one can break your heart, that’s a pretty safe place to be. But then no one can enter into your heart either, so it’s very lonely. To Paul, that friendship was worth the risk, and he gave thanks for his friends — much like the Lord himself, who opened his heart to friendship with those who could wound him or love him.

Nurture

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 1:3-12 (day three)

“In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will.”

Here Paul shares with us a glimpse of not merely God’s creative work, but God’s desire. Welling up within God, Paul says, is a deep affection for the human beings he has made. No, more than that. The deep affection was there even before he made man. The intention to draw human kind close to himself was already there by the time God fashioned creatures in his image. The human race has never existed without God’s longing to nurture and treasure.

Image

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:15-24 (day three)

“He is the image of the invisible God.”

It’s not uncommon to hear in evangelical circles that the way to know God is through Jesus Christ. Often a person will mean by that statement that Christ is the way one gets to God, as in, begins a life of friendship with God. This passage of scripture also has another dimension to it. It is this: when you wonder what God’s character is like, what he thinks about, how he lives, whether he notices you, or wants you near him, or considers your longings important, or pays attention to the things that break your heart, look at Jesus Christ. You can’t just take God in and discern his person. That’s all too much, too big, too high for you. But you can take in Jesus. You can behold him, the man. That’s God.

Real

Re:Verse passage – Romans 12:1-2  (day three)

“Do not be conformed to this world…”

Only so many possibilities can be imagined within this age. Everything else gets assigned to the category of the impossible. But Jesus began to reveal that there exists more to reality than people had heretofore seen. The physical environment, the human body, relations between people – each of these domains can function only in the ways that are possible, and what’s possible had been, until Jesus, dictated by the conventional understanding of the world passed down by human civilizations. The classical philosophers had attempted to expand that understanding, and, through the prophets, God prepared Israel for what was to come. Finally, God’s Son provided the transformative power for people to see what heaven sees. Jesus said, “With God, all things are possible.” Following his Lord’s lead, Paul urges us to open our eyes to what’s really real.

Near

Re:Verse passage – Proverbs 31:8  (day three)

“Open your mouth for the mute,
For the rights of all the unfortunate.”

To speak on behalf of those who have no standing, no access to power, is an endeavor fraught with nuanced hazard. To use your standing in such a way is to act as a representative – one who amplifies the will of the overlooked or ignored. The danger is that you will come to view such a role as a means to make a statement or prove a point or perform penance or demonstrate your worth. When such is the case, the one who can become forgotten amid all those motives is the one on whose behalf you’re supposedly working. It’s easy to cross that line. Jesus, in his dealings with people, showed us how to keep the “mute and unfortunate” front and center: keep drawing near to their experience.