Peter Misselbrook's Blog

May 8 2020 - Ephesians 4:17-5:2 – In the school of Christ

Do you sometimes think, "I wish I could have been around in first century Galilee. It must have been so wonderful to listen to Jesus as he taught the crowd. How wonderful to have been one of his hand-picked group of disciples who were instructed by him"?

Paul, writing to Christians at Ephesus who had never seen Jesus in the flesh, speaks of them as being in the school of Christ. This is what it means to be a Christian: one whom Jesus has chosen to be his disciple; chosen to follow Christ and learn of him.

The Ephesians had spent all their lives learning. They had grown up in a society which was marked by all sorts of ungodly behaviour and their lives had been shaped by such behaviour. But this is not what you've learned from Christ, says Paul (4:20). You are now in a new school, learning how to live the life of the kingdom as you follow the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit "with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (4:30) is your personal tutor. Do not grieve him by falling back into the manner of life that characterised you previously.

Our eldest daughter is a teacher, a head teacher in fact. She has a saying she often uses and which we have come to associate with her; "It's all about learning." Her concern is not just that teachers teach but that pupils learn and that the teaching should be conducted in a manner that promotes learning. I'ts a bit of a passion with her.

And so it is in the Christian life. "It's all about learning": learning of Christ; learning from Christ; learning to live for Christ; learning to be like Christ. Among the many lessons to be learned, this chapter finishes with one of the most challenging, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (4:32). This is one of the key areas where it shows how well we have learned Christ. We are learning to “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (5:2).

Nor are we to be solitary pupils – many of these lessons cannot be learnt alone; they are displayed in our relationships with others. The church is the classroom where we are to learn together of Christ. I do not mean simply by listening to sermons on Sunday, any more than those growing up at Ephesus learned their “futile way of life” through lectures. We are to learn and grow through every aspect of our life together and by encouraging one another.

Many years ago, when I was studying for A level maths, I and one other boy in the class would compete with one another to see how many mathematical problems we could solve. We spurred one another along in our learning, seeking to outdo each other. And so it should be in the Christian life. We should spur one another on in learning Christ and seek to outdo one another in becoming more like him. 

How are the lessons going? How are we learning Christ together?

Heavenly Father, thank you that you have not dropped an immense textbook from heaven, commanded us to study it and threated us with end-of-term exams. You sent your Son from heaven as a revelation of your love and compassion. Help us to learn of him – to see in him the pattern for the life you call us to lead. Help us by your Spirit to learn well and to encourage one another in our lessons, not in fear of failure but knowing that we have been accepted as your children through Christ’s saving work. May our lives attract others into the school of Christ.

May 8 2019 - 2 Samuel 11 – David & Bathsheba

"In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army" (2 Samuel 11:1). Evidently David had decided that he no longer wanted to lead his army in battle; he had appointed Joab to go to war in his place. Meanwhile, David idled away his time in the royal palace while he awaited news of the fighting.

One day, as he walked on the roof of his palace, he caught sight of a beautiful woman bathing – no doubt her saw more of her than he should have, and he was filled with a desire to have her. David behaves just like a king from one of the nations around him. He viewed his subjects as his property; he can do with them whatever he pleases. He sent for Bathsheba, slept with her and got her pregnant. Now David's primary concern is to cover up what he has done. First he summoned her husband, Uriah, back from the war in the hope that he will sleep with Bathsheba and assume that the child is his own. When his plans fail, he has Uriah placed in the most dangerous position in the heat of the battle so that he is killed. Now David is free to take Bathsheba as a wife.

The chapter ends with the terrifying understatement, "But the thing David had done displeased the LORD" (11:27).

Sin begins with a little thing; something that catches the eye and captures the attention or maybe the imaginings of an idle moment. It is like a seed that grows and takes over the garden of the soul, smothering our sensitivity to God and his calling upon us. It is a poisonous plant that needs rooting up at first sight. If you nurture it – if you dwell on the pleasure that could be yours just by taking this action – it will destroy you. It is a cancer. We need to wake up to the deadly seriousness of sin.

David seeks to hide what he had done but in doing so compounds the evil – and none of this is hidden from God; "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13).

When David had first been chosen by God to be king, Samuel was told that "The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). The Lord had seen something beautiful in the heart of David when he chose him to be king over his people; what does he see now?

How can we stop the temptation to sin from progressing into sinful words and actions? James gives us good advice when he writes, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). We need to be conscious that we live every part of our life in the presence of our loving Father who sees our hearts and knows our weakness. We need to remember that we have a faithful Saviour who has promised to help us in our time of need. When tempted, he resisted the devil and the devil fled from him, at least for a time. We need to seek the help of God's Spirit the moment temptations begin to arise in our hearts and to send the devil packing. We need to keep ourselves busy in the things the Lord wants us to do.

Holy Father, teach me from this sad passage to wake up to the toxic nature of sin. Help me by your Spirit to keep watch over my own heart that it might be a place fit for your dwelling. Help me, in union with Christ my Saviour and by the power of your Spirit, to die to sin and live to righteousness. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on you and to continually busy myself in your service.

Peter Misselbrook