Thursday: Jesus, All Things and His Church
Early Christians saw in Psalm 110:1 a prophecy of the exaltation of Jesus: “The LORD says to my LORD: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’” (ESV). They read in the same way, with its affirmation that God has “put all things under his feet,” (Psalm 8:6, ESV), the feet of “the son of man” (Psalm 8:4, ESV). While they believed that the powers of darkness in the heavenly places were over their heads and threatened to subjugate them, they laid hold of the truth that those powers were under Christ’s feet.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Note carefully that having “put all things under his [Jesus’] feet,” the Father “gave him as head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:22, ESV; compare “gave Him to be head over all things to the church,” NKJV). While “all things” is a universal, inclusive term, Paul still has in mind “the powers” mentioned in Ephesians 1:21. All things — the cosmic, supernatural, spiritual powers included — are under the feet of Christ, subservient to Him.
What benefits does the exaltation of Christ to the throne of the cosmos, and His rule over all things in heaven and on earth, provide for His church? Ephesians 1:22-23.
God has made Christ victorious over all evil powers. The church, closely identified with Christ and supplied by Him with all it needs, is itself guaranteed victory over those foes. The power of God, on display in the resurrection and His exaltation over every cosmic power, has been activated for the church. God has given the victorious Christ to the church, which is so united with Him as to be called His body.
How can we believers know the exalted Christ and experience God’s power in our lives? Paul does not directly address any mechanisms or strategies by which this occurs. However, the fact that the passage is part of a “prayer report” is suggestive. Paul believes that God will answer his prayer. He affirms the efficacy of celebrating God’s power, revealed in Christ, in God’s own presence and asking for it to be active in the lives of believers.
| What has been your own experience with the power of prayer? That is, not just answered prayers but prayer in general, and how does prayer draw us closer to God and the power offered us in Jesus? |
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One of the areas that I looked at in my computer science research was memory management. Memory management is quite difficult. In fact, there are some well-known apps that do a poor job of it and you have to do the "turn it off and on again" technique to sort out the mess. The problem is that some applications use data of a lot of different types and sizes and if you don't manage it carefully you simply run out of memory space.
We developed a notion that we called "Congeries" as a sort of collection object to manage this sort of data. I won't go into the detail here, but suffice it to say, it was a method of grouping related but different types of data together for management purposes. We had a special locking structure we called "capabilities" to glue the members of these congeries together to protect them.
Paul talks about the church (Ekklesia - obviously he had not heard of Congeries or I am sure he would have used that). The essential concept is that an Ekklesia is a collection of people with a common purpose. I actually like the notion implicit in Congeries - different types, common purpose, glued together.
The big-picture spiritual analog is that the church is a victorious body in Christ. The special structure that does the "gluing together is the love of Jesus. He is the superglue of the Ekklesia.
(Note that "Ekklesia" is often translated as "church" but that translation misses the nuances of its true meaning.)
James 4:8-“Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
“Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him.”—Steps to Christ page 93-Ellen G White
When you feel as if you are far from God,pray,and He will come to you and a greater sense of relationship will be fostered.We are connected to Him through prayer.Come near to God.
"Prayer is the best wait out of this mess!" It makes one sees reality differently. There is a place to hide in prayer. Without prayer is impossible to overcome self. Prayer is the best "addiction" a human being can have; not only it cures the soul of the one praying but also the one being prayed for. Jesus taught, "Pray without ceasing!" And the collective prayer is even more special.
Just like Joseph lived for God inspite of his murderous brothers, the seven year famine in Egypt, and like Daniel lived for God during the 70 year Babylonian Captivity etc. and etc. we can live for God now during our last day lives now with His help etc. and etc.
There is a distinction between the 'Ekklesia' - the body of Christ -, and the organized church; the latter established to help the Ekklesia become aware of its calling and to equip the individual believer to live by faith. As “God has made Christ victorious over all evil power”, we, ‘being found in Him’, receive His motivation and protection as we go about living in the heavenly Kingdom here on earth.
Studying Ephesians has helped me greatly to see the 'organized' church as just that - an organization to help the Ekklesia, the living body of Christ, assembled through their confession as followers of the Father’s Way of Truth and Light as proclaimed by Jesus Christ His Son and revealed to us by the Holy Spirit - to be edified by the Holy Spirit and grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior – 2 Peter 3:18.
'What are the benefits to the Body of Christ through the exaltation of Christ provided for His church' – the Ekklesia, and expressed by the individual believer?
- The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom (perceiving), serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, ruling, and mercy – Rom. 12; 1 Cor.12:4-11; Isaiah 11:1-3.
- Developing and expressing the virtues of the Holy Spirit: Love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – Gal.5:22-23.
Regarding prayer - it is not a ritual. For me it has become a state of mind - a ‘living-in-the-kingdom-of-God-awareness’. I understand my 'living' is within Christ, knowing that my thoughts and deeds ought to be reflective of having received Grace and Mercy from my heavenly Father.
My experience with the power of prayer speaks to an intentional connection with a non-judgmental friend and parent. Early in my life, I feared God as in being petrified of this judgmental parent, who only looked at my faults and constantly watched me with disapproving eyes and a wagging finger. I ran in many different directions trying to hide from those prying eyes and escape the wagging 'foam' finger. So truthfully I said some 'words' but never quite understood how to really pray.
Until the first time, I was given a 'guided word or two' and I obeyed and what a joy that was. Being a doubting Thomas however, I continued testing this 'still small voice' that speaks with me through prayer, meditation, and the Bible. When I prayed back then, I was always asking for something, a blessing, a job, help with this, that, or the other, never understanding that prayer was an intimate conversation with the one who knows me (and my flaws best) and loves me anyway. What I found was that even though sometimes I would face disappointment because 'what I wanted' or 'instructed' God to do, didn't happen when I wanted it to or didn't happen at all. Then there were times when even through my own disappointment I was able to recognize the hand of God calming the storm or keeping me safe from the storm.
Case in Point: When my 96-year-old mother got sick in 2018, I was very upset that Mom would no longer be here with us (they told us she didn't have long to live). She was a force to be reckoned with when she was alive, and she loved God, and her final words to us - stay together (with God) forever and ever. When COVID reared its head in 2020, I recognized the hand of God in my mother's end of life and was ever so grateful for her peaceful departure (I was in the hospital with her) from this earth. 2020 was painful for many (and rightly so), but I was full of gratitude and have since been diligent in my attempt to live out 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (paraphrased to align with me) - "I will rejoice and pray continuously; giving thanks for everything, good or bad, as that is the will of God in Christ Jesus for me."
Prayer is Holy Gossip with my perfect confidant!