Special Insights No. 4
Fourth Quarter 2005
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Ephesians: The Gospel of Relationships”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
Praise and Prayer
A perusal of the lesson reveals the shortcomings and confusion that
arise when one fails to either grasp or accept the reality of our redemption
in Christ. The great apostle in the verses studied, Ephesians 1:15-23,
presents the foundation for all praise and prayer. These verses do not
present a “provision” of the atonement, but instead address the reality
of the atonement for the human race. An accomplished reality, if you
please.
The 17th verse makes this clear as Paul asserts his intercessory desire
that the believers in Ephesus utilize “wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him.” Wisdom, according to James 1:5, is a gift coming
from God in heaven. It is this gift from the Holy Spirit that enables
the searcher for truth to engage the revelation through the Holy Word
of the knowledge of God’s acts for our salvation.
Moreover, Paul seems quite transparent that the life one lives is to
be a reflection of Christ’s accomplished work. He didn’t, as last week’s
lesson asserts, merely make an offer of salvation and thereby extend
an offer of forgiveness. Paul is too clear later in this same letter,
as in 4:32 Paul exclaims that we are to forgive one another “just as
God IN CHRIST also forgave” us (emphasis mine). Therefore, if God forgave
me before I asked then it must have been accomplished in Christ through
His bearing of the curse on the cross as planned before the foundation
of the world (see Ephesians 1:4). This begs the question that if I’m
forgiven before I even sense my need for it and ask, then why ask at
all?
For the same reason I cash a check. Cashing the check is equivalent
to the exercise of faith in the One who wrote the check. Faith is the
confidence that the Writer of the check has the assets to deliver more
than the face value of the check. Having a check for a million dollars
is a great asset just as every human being has the possession of salvation.
However, if I don’t cash the check the benefits of the check don’t accrue
fully to my life. So it is with salvation. I hear Paul basically saying
that redemption in Christ is the reality of the entire human race.
This appropriately would be called the objective (accomplished/finished)
work of redemption. The subjective (experiential) aspect of salvation
is the choice to receive the adoption into the family of God. Chosen
in Christ (objective) occurred before the foundation of the world (see
again Ephesians 1:4), whereas our choosing Him to be in us (subjective)
occurs at the point of belief/adoption. The latter adds not one iota
to our position in Christ. If it did wouldn’t that make us co-redemptrix
with Christ? An abominable heresy!
My study of the Ephesian epistle has lead me to the conclusion that
it is this distinction that Paul is most eager to present and keep.
He knows that if he can keep the believers focused on that which is
“the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints” then all the instruction on holy living become natural
extensions of the position in Christ we’ve accepted! Paul simply can’t
be more forthcoming than in Ephesians 2:8 when he asserts that we are
saved “by grace (obviously used objectively here) through faith (subjective
choice). It is a gift of God.” Now listen again to verse 10 and follow
the progression. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in
them.” I hear Paul emphatically stating that even the good works done
are those that come forth out of a life which is submitted to the reality
of our being in Christ. Praise and prayer are born and thrive here!!!
Therefore, when one addresses the issue of Praise and Prayer in the
passage, one must be aware that the focus must be on the accomplished
work of God in Christ. This was the emphasis brought to God’s beloved
Church by A. T. Jones, E. J. Waggoner, and Ellen White in the 1888 Message!
Yes, it’s true we are to “examine” ourselves whether we are in the faith”
(2 Cor. 13:5). Unfortunately this latter passage is used as support
for “navel gazing.” This usually results in legalistic comparisons with
others whom we usually perceive to be doing more poorly than us. The
text actually teaches nothing of the sort. Paul is simply asking the
believers in Corinth to protect the gospel through their own embracing
of the objective truths he taught them. In other words, do we understand
and believe the truth of Christ’s accomplished work? If so then Paul
knows that the life will increasingly be in harmony with Christ’s life.
This is commandment-keeping that honors God!
Sadly much of the praise and prayer that is practiced by God’s people
bears little resemblance to the emphasis taught by Paul and earlier
by Christ. The reason is that too often the Gospel believed is one that
leaves on the table some glory for me. If my faith puts me into Christ
(Arminian belief) rather than God’s grace (1 Cor. 1:30 and the 1888
message) then we may find our praise tending toward the self-aggrandizement
of the contemporary worship service, and our prayers more concerned
with our human needs rather than the need of God to be glorified through
His people. Or we may remain stuck in the feel-good gospel melody-driven
worship services of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Maybe more problematic
is the excessive formal high church worship that fosters elitism.
There can be little doubt to the engaged thinker that it is this failure
to praise and pray with the emphasis of this Pauline letter that has
led to either the humanly exalted high church of the elitist or the
low church of cheap gospel-melody worship, or the contemporary “christianized”
worship with its totalitarian rhythms. In all counterfeits of true worship
as with the counterfeit gospels varying degrees of glory are extended
to man. On the contrary, in the Pauline gospel and reiterated by the
1888 message, one searches in vain for glory extended to man. The reason
one doesn’t find it is that it has been laid where it belongs … “in
the dust.” In that dust of human accomplishment is found the genesis
of the praise and prayers that honors God and expands true spiritual
worship and growth.
—Dale Martin
Note: Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is the inspired
source for many of the unique “what-Christ-has-accomplished” and “what-He
does-in-you” concepts which make the 1888 message of Christ’s righteousness
so unique. The 1888 Message Study Committee has just published Robert
J. Wieland’s accompanying commentary on Ephesians, YOU’VE BEEN “ADOPTED.”
Call (269) 473-1888 to order; ask for the special introductory price.
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