Remember Who You Are: Prompts for Spiritual Amnesiacs

Oct.1, 2018 - "From the Minister's Study" column, The Citizen
Memory is a wonderful thing. The older you get, the more memories you have, but often the less your ability to remember specific things becomes. We need lists and calendars and device notifications to help “jog” our memories.
    Even worse is when someone has the condition known as amnesia, when perhaps due to a blow to the head in an accident they at least temporarily forget who they are, where they are, and so on.
    Sometimes we who claim to be Christians develop what might be called “spiritual amnesia” – it seems we forget who we are, in Christ. Our behaviour doesn’t line up with our beliefs. In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul writes to counteract such “spiritual amnesia”. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul reminds the church who they were; who they are now are already, through faith in Christ; who they will be eventually; and, who they are becoming in this life, with God’s help.
    We inhabit an “I CAN” culture: secular humanism would give young people the impression that people are basically good and you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it. Yet some have observed that the 20th century, the one after philosopher Nietzsche boldly declared “God is dead”, was the bloodiest one yet. Journalist Malcom Muggeridge stated, “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”
    In the first 3 verses of the second chapter of Ephesians, Paul offers a sobering description of our fallen state, cut off from God, in bondage to sin, being commandeered to destruction by our own innate impulses. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins...” (Eph.2:1) Sin cuts us off from a Holy God. We were spiritual ‘road kill’. You walk up to a dead coon or groundhog splattered across the pavement, poke it with a stick – it doesn’t move. It can’t, it has no life in it, no ability, nothing. That’s how much spiritual potential we had before we were saved. Our likely future? “We were by nature objects of wrath.” (2:3) God’s wrath. And we deserved it 100%. Although we had been created by Almighty God and blessed with various abilities, each one of us at some point turned away from God and sinned. We thumbed our nose at the very One to whom we owed the gift of life itself. Captive in our sin, following the passions of our humanness, we were fit for only one ultimate destination: hell. To be cut off from God forever, punished for despising and rebelling against Him.
    But Christ’s grace intervened. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...” (Eph 2:4-6) Literally, as NRSV puts it: “Out of the great love with which He loved us...” Sheer richness of mercy, not because we deserved it in the least!
    Who we are now (already) gives a glimmer of what’s to come, who we will be in eternity. God has already showered His love and grace upon us in saving us from destruction and eternal punishment, even though there was not a smidge in us of goodness that deserved it. Even more is to come hereafter! “...In order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph.2:7) How God wants to show His grace to us is just begun to be shown to us in this life – much more to follow!
    But Paul also emphasizes Who We Are Becoming. First - a people of faith, hope, and love. “...Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints... In order that you may know the hope to which He has called you...” (Eph.1:15,18) Second, Paul prays that the church becomes people of the spirit. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (1:17)
    Third, we are a people who are coming to know God increasingly. “...So that you may know him better.” (1:17b) A mature Christian is one who has come to know God well, has become familiar with God – both through reading the Bible and as you see God’s activity interacting with you in your life.
    Fourth, we are becoming God’s people collectively. It’s not just an individual project you can do all by yourself. Our anabaptist friends remind us of the importance of reading Scripture together in community, which is where small groups are so important! “I pray...that you may know...the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints...” (1:18) You are valuable to God, treasured by Him! And how much more when the whole church is gathered together! Robertson comments, “Our riches is in God; God’s is in His saints.”
    Fifth, we are becoming a people of power. “...That you may know his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead...” (1:19f) You have resurrection-style power available to you for God’s purposes! You needn’t be locked into being a victim: in Christ you can become an overcomer! Even destructive chemical addictions can be overcome (drugs or alcohol), when addicts finally come to the end of their own efforts so they are ready to call out to God for His saving power. It’s when you ‘hit bottom’ you finally realize you can’t do it on your own – it’s going to destroy you if you don’t make a change – you have to come to the place (like the prodigal son) where you ‘come to yourself’ and admit you’ve got to repent and turn to God, whose power alone can break those bonds.
    Sixth, although we’re a people of power, we’re also becoming a people under submission. “[God] seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.And God placed all things under his feet...” (1:20b-22) How exalted Christ is! Far above all rule, authority, power, dominion (literally ‘lordships’), titles. All things are placed under His feet. The cross is the ultimate corrective to our bullying.
    Last, we are becoming people implementing Christ’s headship. “[God]...appointed [Christ] to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (1:22b-23) How are we (collectively in the church) Jesus’ “fullness”, completing His presence here in this corner of the galaxy today??! When you sit and listen to a friend going through a tough time, then offer to pray for them, you are bringing Jesus’ presence into that situation very tangibly.
    In summary – we’re not who we were – God had mercy on this ‘spiritual road kill’. And we’re not yet who we will be – not by a long shot. When Jesus returns, we will be ‘like Him’ (1Jn 3:2). But by God’s grace, we are becoming His people more fully with each passing year, as we keep submitting to His headship and plugging in to His divine power.