Jesus

So I'm reading Ephesians this a.m. and I was struck by these phrases: "the unsearchable riches of Christ", the "riches of God's grace", "His glorious riches", "able to do immeasurably more." Wow. God is not holding anything back. We can't reach the end of His riches. We can't measure them. And His love "surpasses knowledge." Nothing to say but "WOW!" Then I picked up my book. Had just read in Eph about how God "made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions". From Jesus Manifesto: "Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live." Amen! :)

Here's another good one about the kingdom of God: "Paul said that Jesus is 'head over all things [for] the Church.' Notice, Jesus is head over all things not for the state but for the church. All things are placed under His feet, Paul wrote, but Jesus has been appointed 'head' of 'all things' for the church. Some have made Jesus the chaplain of the American dream. Others have made Him the chaplain of the Democratic Party. Still others have made Jesus the chaplain of capitalism and Republicanism. All are equally blasphemous. Most blasphemous of all are those who would decapitate the head from its body and render Christ irrelevant."

Here's a great little section about the poor - and convicting as I remember that there is no loving the poor apart from Jesus. "We must never avoid social issues. But the distinctive mark of a Christian is that you don't begin with a social or moral issue. You begin with God. You start with God's revelation in Jesus, and the relationship of justifying/sanctifying/glorifying grace that the "heir of all things" releases in all of us. You make the Light of the World, not culture, your reference point. Our time should be spent figuring out our relationship to Jesus, and what He is doing in the world. Why? So we can join Him in what He's already doing. If we start anywhere else but Christ, we lose our way. If we start with the social and political as our reference point, the 'social gospel' becomes very much 'social' and very little 'gospel.' In truth, there is no 'gospel' that is not a 'social gospel'. For example, when we reach out to the poor and sick, we are not doing so because of some principle of justice, or some theology of poverty and sickness, or some political platform or legislation, or some responsible way of dealing with surplus wealth. We do so for three reasons:

1. The deepest hungers of the human heart are for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

2. We are reaching out to Jesus Himself ('I was sick and you visitied Me'). In the poor and sick, it is Christ whom we attend and feed and love. Followers of Jesus exist for others, not for themselves.

3. The life of Christ within us compels us to reach out to such. The Galilean prophet who healed the sick and cared for the poor continues His ministry in and through us today."

Loving thinking about Jesus. Whole paradigm is shifting right now. I have only had love that stayed within the bounds of knowledge up until now and I'm ready for the love that surpasses knowledge! Come Jesus!