One of These Is Not Like the Others

             In November of 1969, just four months after the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, a new little children’s show named Sesame Street debuted on television screens around the country.  It went on to become one of the most famous and longest running TV series of all time.  Many people who are now middle aged grew up watching and enjoying this educational program.  In fact, some estimates state that 77 million Americans have watched Sesame Street as children. 

One of the staple sketches on the show is a song called “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others.”  It is designed to teach children to notice differences between objects.  Typically, four items are displayed on screen.  Three of them have something in common, while the fourth is distinctly different in some way.  An example is an apple, an ice cream cone, a hamburger, and a mitten.  Children are given a few moments to think it through for themselves while a human actor sings the lyrics to the song.  Then, the differences are explained.

            In one sense, this is nothing more than a silly and fun educational tool.  Yet, it must be noted that the creators of Sesame Street were attempting to teach a fundamental principle of observation and reasoning.  The ability to understand, evaluate, and determine the similarities and divergences of visual objects leads to a much subtler and deeper ability – that of comparing and contrasting thoughts and ideas.

            This is a particularly important skill to possess when it comes to Bible interpretation.  The writers of Scripture often utilize comparative reasoning, linked sequential chains, and other logical constructs when arguing and proving their points.  The Apostle Paul was particularly adept at this.  His letters are among some of the richest and most complex pieces of literature ever written. 

The final letter Paul wrote, that still exists, was written from prison, shortly before his execution.  It was addressed to his beloved disciple Timothy.  This epistle is the second of Paul’s letters to Timothy that is included in the canon of Scripture.  It was a sort of last will and testament for his dear friend.  Paul wanted to communicate to Timothy some final pieces of encouragement, advice, exhortation, and instruction.

Chief among Paul’s concerns for Timothy was that he would continue to steadfastly preach and staunchly defend the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.  In 1:8 Timothy is advised not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord.  In 1:14 Paul instructs him to guard the treasure which has been entrusted to him.  In the next verse we see a striking contrast as Timothy is reminded that others have abandoned the faith.  In 2:1 Paul tells his “son” to be strong in the grace of Christ.  In 2:2 Timothy is advised to entrust Paul’s teaching to faithful men.

Paul uses various nouns throughout these verses: testimony, treasure, and grace.  But, his ultimate meaning is the same every time.  He longs for Timothy to remain true to God’s plan of redemption and salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is in this context that we come to the eleventh verse of chapter 2.  Here we find a fascinating little historical anecdote.  Paul writes: It is a trustworthy statement.  He is setting up what follows by characterizing it as a saying of note.  What follows in verses 11 through 13 was probably a common formula recited by Christians and well known throughout the churches of Asia Minor.  In fact, it may even have been a fragment of a larger hymn that was sung during times of corporate worship. 

This is an excellent reminder that the Bible is not a dusty, antiquated collection of impersonal literature.  It was written by living, breathing, laughing, crying, active, weary, struggling people.  They were probably not altogether unlike us.  They certainly gathered together to worship the Lord.  They most definitely sang corporately in an effort to praise God.  If we met them today, I suspect we would have quite a lot in common.

Furthermore, as we will see, this trustworthy statement that Paul is about to write to Timothy is a perfect example of the importance of recognizing similarities and differences.  It is, if you will, an adult version of the classic old Sesame Street song “One of These Is Not Like the Others.”

The pattern is as follows.  Paul issues four conditional propositional truth claims.  These are simple if…then patterns.  If something, then something else.  In each of the first three we will see a parallel between ourselves and the Lord Jesus.  But then, in the final stanza of this 1^st century hymn, Paul is going to diverge from his formula and present a striking contrast.  It is the one that is not like the others.  And, the import of it is earth shattering.

We begin in the latter half of verse 11: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him.  In order to understand Paul’s thought here we need to recognize that he is speaking metaphorically to illustrate the relationship between Christ and us.  Let us examine the two sides of this coin individually.

The half that refers to Christ is more readily apparent, so we will begin with that.  It is news to no one even passingly familiar with the Christian faith that one of its central tenets is the sacrificial execution of Jesus via crucifixion by the Romans.  Of equal important to His death, however, is His resurrection.  Christ’s death paid the penalty for the sins of all who will place their faith and trust in Him.  But, it is Christ’s resurrection that really sealed the deal.  By raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father stamped His clear and unequivocal mark of approval upon His Son.  The resurrection broadcast the deity of Jesus to the entire world in such a convincing manner that His enemies could only attempt to distract from its truth.  They would have loved to prove it to be false by presenting Jesus’s corpse.  This they could not do, because a dead body did not exist.  Thus, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus went one to become a rallying cry of hope and triumph for millennia of Christians since the first century.

Less clear is how this relates to us.  Paul is obviously indicating that in some way we also must die as Christ did if we wish to live as He lived.  What is the Apostle referring to here?  Paul’s masterwork of doctrine, the Epistle to the Romans, can help.  In Romans 6:8 we read: Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.  Three verses later Paul reveals the nature of this death: Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The nature of the death that Christians are expected to die is not physical, but rather spiritual.  We symbolically die to the sin that formerly enslaved us.  Another way to say this is to die to self.  In Matthew 16:24-25 Jesus said it this way: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”  One who takes up his own cross can be doing nothing other than heading to his own crucifixion.  Therefore, Jesus’s point was that we must be prepared to die to, or separate from, our own desires, interests, and goals.  Instead of exalting what we want, we are to lift up God’s agenda.

So, the spiritual death that we die to sin is a metaphorical image of Christ’s physical death.  And, by the same token, the spiritual life we are given through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to be seen as a picture of Jesus’s physical resurrection.  Paul states it this way in the first chapter of his letter to Timothy that we are studying.  In referring to Jesus’s work, he writes: our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2^nd Tim. 1:10).

Does it sometimes seem hard to say no to temptation?  Does your own sin occasionally rise up and threaten to overwhelm you with its insidious clutches?  Do you often despair of ever conforming to the image of Christ?  Do you frequently wonder if your walk will ever look like His?  If so, and I think those rhetorical questions describe all of us to one degree or another, then be comforted by the example of Christ and our parallel with Him.  Although the death that we are commanded to die to sin does indeed sometimes seem like an insurmountable goal, it is far eclipsed by the life that we are promised in Christ.  The sweetness of being in Heaven for eternity with God will exceeding surpass any trials and tribulations we are asked to endure in this life.  Just as Jesus’s life overshadowed His death, so our resurrection into newness of life will cause our present physical circumstances to fade into insignificance.  Our lives as Christians are mirror images of Christ’s life as a human.  Our experience is a parallel of His, in a sense.

We can see another similarity in the next line, which constitutes the first half of verse 12: If we endure, we will also reign with Him.  God the Son submitted Himself to the Father’s will, in order to accomplish the divine plan of redemption, by allowing Himself to be clothed with human flesh.  When He was born into this world God’s divine nature was joined to a human nature in the singular person of Jesus, a 1^st century Jewish man.  Because He was and is fully human, Jesus became saddled with all the difficulties of human flesh.  He became susceptible to tiredness, hunger, weariness, and sickness.  He was exposed to temptation, although He never submitted to its allure as we do.  Ultimately, Jesus walked willingly to His own horrific death by crucifixion, accepting the physical torture, social ostracizing, and divine separation from His Father while the sins of all humanity were placed upon His shoulders.

Why would anyone do such a thing?  Was it out of love?  That was certainly part of it.  Jesus’s Apostle, John, holds his master up as an example of sacrificial love in 1^st John 3:16, when he writes: We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us.  Jesus Himself said that this is the greatest form of practical love.  John records it for us in John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  Furthermore, Jesus loved His Father so much that He was willing to submit to death if it was part of the Father’s plan.  He said as much in John 14:31: but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.  So, it is a certainty that Jesus loved His Father and He loved us, and this was a prime motivating factor in His submitting to the cross.

Yet, this is not the whole story.  There was yet another ulterior motive in Christ’s heart and mind as He contemplated the road to Calvary.  The author of Hebrews reveals it to us in 12:2.  In referring to Jesus, he writes: who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Jesus was well aware of the fullness of the Father’s plan.  He knew, as He headed to death, what awaited Him on the other side.  Because Jesus sacrificed Himself, in accordance with the will of His Father, He has been exalted to the highest position in the universe.  He has inherited all that the Father possesses (Heb. 1:2) and has been given the name above all names (Phil. 2:9).  And, according to Hebrews, the knowledge of this future certainty was a motivating factor that helped Jesus to withstand the horror of crucifixion.

In a similar manner, God asks us to endure lives of trouble, strife, pain, and heartache.  He does not whisk us away to be with Him in Heaven at the moment of conversion.  Rather, He asks us to remain in these bodies of sin and death that are such a hindrance to the cause of Christ.  He expects us to trust Him and submit to a lifetime of inch by inch and moment by moment sanctification rather than an instantaneous transformation.  God demands effort on our part to work at becoming like Jesus even as He gives us a helper named the Holy Spirit, without whom we cannot hope to succeed.

It is a fact that this life is not easy.  Perseverance can be difficult at times.  Resisting Satan and his world system is often overwhelming.  Yet, consider the glory that awaits those who hold fast to Christ through both the darkness of night and the brightness of morning.  James, the brother of Jesus, writes: Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  We can easily understand the image that James uses to convey his thought.  A crown is instantly recognizable as a symbol of royalty, of exaltation, of adoration.  We are to understand our future, in Christ, as one of high status.  Paul, in the verse just prior to the trustworthy statement we are studying, says it this way: For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

In stark contrast to the pregnant glory of the first two lines of this hymn, we come to the terrifying awfulness of the third line.  If we deny Him, He also will deny us.  This an echo of the sentiment previously expressed by Jesus in Matthew 10:33.  He said: “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”

I was teaching this passage to some children recently.  I told them this line was terrible.  The response I received was this.  “It doesn’t seem scary to me.”  What these little ones failed to grasp was the horrific implication of Jesus denying us before the Father.

The Bible describes God in many ways.  Love, holy, unchanging, and kind are just a few descriptors that are applied to our Creator by the writers of Scripture.  Yet, as He relates to sin and evil there is only one motif that emerges – that of hatred.  Sin is described as raw wounds (Isa. 1:6), a heavy burden (Psa. 38:4), defiling filth (Tit. 1:15), a binding debt (Matt. 6:12-15), darkness (1^st Jn. 1:6), and a scarlet stain (Isa. 1:18).  The prophet Habakkuk wrote about God that: Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor.  In an effort to communicate to Israel just how revolted by sin He is, God used some rather obscene and graphic images to describe it to them.  In Ezekiel 23, for example, He pictures Israel and Judah as prostitutes who had sexual relations with the nations around them.  The language is very strong and frankly, not suitable for small children. 

All of this is true, but it still does not do justice to the situation.  Because, God does not merely dislike or even only hate sin.  He will consume and destroy it.  In Deuteronomy 4:24 Moses writes: For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.  In Revelation 14:9b-10 we find a depiction of the fate of those who reject Christ and worship the Beast instead: he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night.

The incredible grace and kindness of God is matched by His destructive fury toward sin and sinners.  The author of Hebrews writes: It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31).

All of this doom can be avoided only one way.  That is, to have Jesus stand before the Father, absorb His wrath, and argue for our innocence.  John describes Jesus as our advocate, or literally our attorney who pleads our case before the judge (1^st Jn. 2:2).  Moving back to Hebrews, we find in 7:25 that: He always lives to make intercession for them.

The point is this.  When we place our faith and trust in Christ and accept Him as our Savior, we are spared from the Father’s wrath as well as Christ’s own fury toward sin that He will display when He comes in judgment upon this world, as depicted in Revelation.  We no longer have to fear falling into God’s hands.  Instead of a place of torment, destruction, and hardness His hands become a place of peace, safety, and softness.  But, for those who have denied Christ and consequently have no defense before the Father, there will be no escape from their awful fate.

Clearly, the Apostle Paul thought it was important even for believers to remember this, because he places it in the context of the trustworthy statement of 2^nd Timothy 2:11-13.  It is a part of this 1^st century Christian hymn, to be recited or sung repeatedly.  Our response should be one of quaking terror if we do not know Christ.  Alternatively, for those who are in Christ, what a tremendous relief to know that we are spared from such a future.  What is more, our assurance of this is rooted in nothing less than the inviolable nature of God Himself.

That is the import of the fourth line of our stanza: If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.  To this point, there has been a symmetry between our experience and that of Christ’s.  As He died physically and rose physically, so we die spiritually and metaphorically to sin and live both spiritually and physically to Christ.  As Jesus endured the trouble of His earthly life, ultimately earning for Himself a place at the Father’s right hand, so we are called on to persevere in this fallen world, being assured that our eventual end is one of glory beside our Savior Jesus.  Even as we deny the deity and authority of Christ, so He will deny our place in heaven and our defense from facing the wrath of God for our sin.

But now, in this last line, suddenly there is a sharp divergence from these parallels.  As the simple old Sesame Street song attempted to teach children, we now come to something that is entirely unlike what has come before.  Namely, the alien nature of Christ.

By alien, I do not mean little green men from outer space.  I mean that Christ’s nature is different from our own.  He is foreign to us.  Although we are made in God’s image and bear His mark upon us, He is beyond us and dissimilar to us in fundamental ways.  Here is one of them.  He is perfectly faithful while we are unendingly faithless.

There are two schools of thought as to what Paul means here by the word faithless.  In Greek, he uses a form of the basic term for belief paired with a negative particle, to produce a meaning of “the opposite of belief.”  This is apparent.  What is less obvious is what type of faithlessness is meant.  Is Paul describing an unbeliever who rejects Christ, thus facing the wrath of God as described in the previous line.  Or, is he talking about the struggling faith of a Christian, who at times is weak and doubts the promises of God?

Those who hold to the first interpretation would do so for two primary reasons.  The first is that such a view fits well with the third line of the hymn, in verse 12.  This would make the first two lines directed positively toward believers, and the third and fourth lines directed negatively, toward unbelievers.  Such a construct would be a very Hebrew method of writing prose, as it would be an example of parallelism.  Specifically, for those who are knowledgeable in Hebrew poetry, it would be two antithetic groups of synonomous parallelism.

Secondly, the Bible is a book wherein God reveals His character to mankind.  It is unapologetically God centered in its aim and purposes.  God has an all-consuming interest in His own glory.  Therefore, the argument would follow, that for us to interpet verse 13 as referring to God’s faithfulness toward us would be to distort God’s primary motive in writing the Bible in the first place.  It would follow then that Paul is speaking of God’s faithfulness toward His own guarantee of dire retribution for anyone who rejects Him.

I see the merits of these arguments, but I lean toward the latter interpretation, that Paul is talking about struggling Christians to whom God is faithful, for five reasons.  First is the grammatical context of the verse itself.  If we take the first meaning, of a lack of saving faith, then I think the rest of the verse becomes unwieldy to interpret.  Essentially, we have to say that, for those who remain in unbelief, God remains faithful to His promise to punish them severely for their rebellion.  The reason is that He cannot change and ignore justice.  While this is a true statement, it seems like a cumbersome way to make that statement for Paul.

Also, in response to the second argument given above, I do not believe God’s interest in His own glory and His promises to the elect can be separated from each other.  The promise of salvation toward those whom He has chosen is an application of God’s interest in His exaltation.  The reason is because Christ is the perfect visible image of God’s glorious character.  And, Christians are intended to be a living breathing image of the visible Christ.  As such, by God fulfilling His promise to exalt believers, He is in effect ensuring and sealing the evidence of His majesty for all creation to witness.  This is why Paul, in describing the church in Ephesians says that our redemption is to the praise of God’s glory (Eph. 1:14) and that His wisdom would be displayed through the church to angelic beings in the heavenly realms (Eph. 3:10).

Additionally, nowhere else in the New Testament is God described negatively (meaning judgmental and wrathful) by the word faithful.  The word faithful, pisteuo in Greek, is used to refer to God 14 times in the New Testament, outside of its occurrence here in 2^nd Timothy.  In 13 of those uses, the text is clearly applying faithfulness as a positive quality of God that is being applied to believers.  God is faithful to those who were called into fellowship with Him (1^st Cor. 1:9), He is faithful to protect believers from succumbing to temptation (1^st Cor. 10:13), He is faithful to His promise of “yes” in Christ (2^nd Cor. 1:18), He is faithful to the calling of the elect (1^st Thess. 5:24), He is faithful to protect Christians from Satan (2^nd Thess. 3:3), Christ is faithful to His duties as high priest (Heb. 2:17), He is faithful to His Father (Heb. 3:2), God is faithful to His promises (Heb. 10:23 and 11:11), He is faithful to those who suffer for Him (1^st Pet. 4:19), He is faithful to forgive the sins of the repentant (1^st Jn. 1:9), and Christ is a faithful and true witness (Rev. 1:5 and 3:14).

Of all the uses of pisteuo that appear in the NT and are being applied to God, the only possible occurrence that might be speaking of His constancy to punish the wicked is in Revelation 19:11.  That verse indicates that Christ is faithful and true, and that in righteousness He will judge and wage war.  I think the link between Christ’s faithfulness and His judgment is tenuous at best in that verse.  And, that is the closest instance of pisteuo being used to describe God’s judgment.

In addition to those points, it appears that all of the major English translations of the Bible agree with the interpretation that 2^nd Timothy 2:13 is referring to believers and God’s relationship to them.  The word Paul uses here is often translated as unbelief or disbelieve.  Yet, in this instance it is translated as faithless or unfaithful.  In fact, this is the only occurrence of the word that is translated this way.  Now, to be fair, this is simply a translation decision by the teams who worked on the various English Bibles.  Yet, it is an additional piece of evidence that favors the view that Paul is referring to believers who struggle with their faith.

Furthermore, as stated previously, Paul has been stressing the glory of the gospel since he started writing.  He is addressing a committed follower of Jesus, in Timothy, as well as those whom Timothy will go on to instruct.  Timothy has been exhorted to hold fast to the gospel, to defend it, and to suffer for it if necessary.  In this context, it would seem odd for Paul to conclude his trustworthy statement with a depressing promise of retribution rather than a resounding crescendo of triumph.

Thus, in my opinion, the overwhelming evidence points to Paul using faithful in 2^nd Timothy 2:13, in relation to God, as applying to His great faithfulness toward His promise of salvation in Christ to those who believe, and faithless in relation to believers who are weak or struggling with their faith.  Paul is certainly not communicating that God will excuse the sin of unbelievers.  This is not some kind of Pauline “get out of hell free” card.  Rather, I think the Apostle is communicating that no matter how badly we botch things, once we have been united with Christ, no force in the universe can sever us from Him.

Said another way, all of us will struggle or stumble in our walk with Christ.  Even Paul himself was not immune to this tendency, as outlined in Romans 7.  Yet, we can be comforted in the midst of our temporary failure, because even though we are unreliable servants, we serve a rock solid and dependable master.  Christ will always be faithful to those of us who have trusted Him for our salvation.  We never have to fear incurring our heavenly Father’s anger to such an extent that we will be cut off from the promises of God and the hope that we have in Christ.

In fact, we are protected from this kind of disownment by nothing less than the incomparable, undefeatable, omnipotent power of God Himself.  God is not a human like we are, who is temporal and unpredictable, prone to whim and whimsy.  He is an eternally immovable force of holiness and transcendence.  His own nature prevents Him from being untrustworthy.  Paul is so determined to make this clear in his letter to the Romans that he uses the strongest negative emphatic statement he has available to him.

In Romans 3 the Apostle is discussing the unbelief of the Jews.  They rejected their Messiah, Jesus, and thus were found unfaithful.  So, Paul asks a rhetorical question.  If some of the Jews did not believe, does their lack of faith do away with the faithfulness of God?  His answer, in verse 4, is best captured by the NASB English translation of the Bible: May it never be!  Other translations use “by no means”, “absolutely not”, or “God forbid.”  None of these do justice to the Greek text behind our English words.  What Paul actually wrote was “me genoito”.  He used a form of the Greek word (ginomai) that means to come into existence, to exist, or to happen.  Then he pairs it with the negative particle (me – pronounced “may”).

What Paul is communicating here is that he does not want such a thought to even come into existence.  He wants it obliterated from our consciousness.  The doctrine of God’s faithfulness is so important to Paul that, if any opposing propositional claim is made, he wants such a notion to be eradicated from reality.

That is how essential it is, to an understanding of Paul’s thought, to hold fast to the doctrine of God’s immutability, or His unchangeableness.  And, this tenet gives us the key to understand the magnitude of the truth contained in 1^st Timothy 2:13.  It is impossible for God to reject us, once we have come to a genuine saving faith in Christ.  Our level of obedience is not the issue here, even though obedience is a critical component of the Christian life.  How successful at evangelism we are is irrelevant in terms of this discussion, even though evangelism is explicitly commanded by Jesus in the great commission of Matthew 28:18-20.  Our activity level in our local church is not on trial at this point, even though to be a complete Christian the New Testament is clear that we must be connected to Christ’s bride even as we are connected to Him.

All of these various issues of Christian living are important.  However, they are irrelevant in the context of whether we can ever fall away from Christ.  Remember that Paul is writing this letter to a proven committed Christian worker, Timothy.  The question is not whether Timothy is genuinely saved.  Paul takes Timothy’s salvation for granted because he has previously seen the evidence in Timothy’s life of his relationship with Christ. 

That is the context in which Paul makes this bold, sweeping statement of assurance.  It is nothing less than the omnipotent power of the living God that holds us fast to Himself.  Because, for Him to allow us to fall away would be to deny His own nature that guarantees faithfulness to us even in the face of our repeated pathetic failures.

So, to recap, what do we see in this wonderful little hymn of so many centuries ago?  We see that if we die to sin we will live with Christ.  We see that if we persevere to the end we will rule beside Christ.  We see that anyone who does not put their faith in Christ will face the terrifying prospect of entering into the presence of God with no protection to cover their wickedness.  And, finally, we are assured that no matter how poorly we behave and how often we stumble, Christ will never allow us to quit the race.

How should these truths, particularly the last one, impact our lives?  In an effort to answer that, let me suggest this hypothetical question.  Which would be preferable in terms of producing obedience in you?  A father who demands obedience and threatens dire consequences for infractions?  Or a father who expects obedience and gives assurance of his love in spite of failure?

It seems to me that the answer is obvious.  Any of us would prefer the latter type of father.  Obedience might be produced in the children of either one.  But any compliance from the kids of the harsh father would probably be a slavish, begrudging, fearful attempt to avoid punishment.  On the other hand, a dad who encourages, strengthens, and comforts his children while he shows them the right way to live is much more likely to elicit willing conformity from his family.  It is desirable to obey the gentle father out of love for him and a genuine desire to please him.

That is exactly the situation we, as Christians, have with God.  Once He has adopted us into His family, He becomes our loving heavenly Father.  He assures us that no matter how imperfect and frail we are, He will always love us and will never allow us to fall so far that He cannot pick us back up and set us on our feet.

How can we who have been made one with Christ Jesus possibly, in good conscience, do anything less than serve Him with every fiber of our being?  How can anyone who does not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior possibly, in good sense, do anything less than run to Him, cling to Him, and love Him with all their might?

In either case, for both groups, God is standing with His powerful yet tender arms wide open.  The only rational option is to throw ourselves into His embrace and give Him our lives.

Wealth Beyond Imagination

           George Herbert, who lived from 1593 to 1633, was a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England.  He is responsible for such gems as “One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters” and “Living well is the best revenge.”  Herbert’s poems often used metaphysical imagery and he is recognized as one of the foremost British devotional lyricists.  This description is evidenced well by Herbert’s poem entitled “The Pulley.”  In this work, the poet attempts to envision the theological relationship between God and man through the mechanical construct of a pulley system whereby God dispenses blessings onto His chief creation:

                        When God at first made man,

                        Having a glass of blessings standing by,

                        “Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can.

                        Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,

                        Contract into a span.”

                        So strength first made a way;

                        Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.

                        When almost all was out, God made a stay,

                        Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,

                        Rest in the bottom lay.

                        “For if I should,” said he,

                        “Bestow this jewel also on my creature,

                        He would adore my gifts instead of me,

                        And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;

                        So both should losers be.

                        “Yet let him keep the rest,

                        But keep them with repining restlessness;

                        Let him be rich and weary, that at least,

                        If goodness lead him not, yet weariness

                        May toss him to my breast.”

            I can see the truth of the human experience in Herbert’s words of four centuries ago.  We are granted wealth beyond imagination by God, yet we are never satisfied with the status quo.  We, as a species, are ever infused with the desire to obtain more, rise to greater heights, and exceed the bounds with which we are constrained.  Now, this state of affairs is entirely appropriate prior to accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  It is right that we should be restless.  It is good that we should be unsatisfied with our lot in life.  Because, truly, apart from union with our Creator, as Herbert wrote, there can be no satisfying rest for our souls.

            However, after we have come to faith in Christ, have begun to walk with Him, and have received innumerable and unimaginable blessings we of all people on earth ought to be content.  Yet we, although having been made one with Christ and inhabited by the Spirit of God, are still encumbered by our bodies of sin and death.  The Apostle Paul calls this shackle our “flesh.”  This spiritually dead and sin lusting earthly dwelling is in a constant state of war with our regenerated and Christ savoring souls.  Thus, we who have tasted the richness of God’s incomparable blessings sometimes fail to appreciate them.  We might become consumed with the busyness of life, the mundane fascination with material goods, and the temporal pleasures of this earth.  And, in the process, we forget just how rich we already are, regardless of our present physical circumstances.

            Into this realm of misplaced Christian affection steps Paul with precisely the antidote we need to cure us of our under-appreciation of what God has given us in Christ.  In the first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul describes to the church exactly what our blessedness looks like.  He begins in verse 3 by clarifying the “what” and the “where” of our blessings: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.  We must observe three things about the blessings we have received.  One, they are spiritual blessings.  Two, they are located in the heavenly places.  And three, they are only obtained through union with Christ.

            First, let us look at the spiritual nature of these blessings.  And let us understand that what is spiritual informs what is physical, not the other way around.  The word Paul uses for spiritual in Greek is “pneumatikos.”  I mention that because it is formed from the root, pneuma, which means spirit, breath, or wind.  This is the same word that Jesus used to describe the helper whom He would send after He departed from this earth, as seen in John 14:17.  In referring to this helper, Jesus says: “that is the Spirit (pneuma) of truth.”

            This is significant because of how Jesus described the Spirit two chapters later, in 16:13-14: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”  The role of God’s Spirit is to unveil the truth of the Son.  The immaterial Spirit reveals the material Christ.  Note that it is not the other way around.  It is not the primary role of God the Son to disclose to us the character of God the Spirit.  To be sure, Christ does indeed reveal the character of His Father to the world.  So, in the interest of full disclosure we must acknowledge that there is a degree of overlap in all things pertaining to the three persons of the Godhead because of God’s unified trinitarian nature.  Yet, for our purposes here we can affirm that the relationship of Spirit to Son is that of revelation and explanation.

            In a similar manner, when it comes to us, what is spiritual informs what is physical.  Our body does not dictate to our spirit how we will behave or what we will be like.  Although we refer to our sin natures as the flesh, it is not literally our eyes, fingers, or sexual organs that cause us to succumb to temptation.  Rather, it is our minds.  It is that which is immaterial in us that speaks to that which is material.

            The importance of this point is to recognize that the relationship between physical and spiritual blessings is a one-way street.  The luxuries of life have no ultimate lasting impact on how we feel in our inner person.  Pleasure provides comfort for a time.  Yet, it is fleeting and ephemeral.  Conversely, if we are at peace within our soul, then we can be permanently content in any situation.  This was Paul’s point in 2^nd Corinthians 12:10 when he wrote: Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

            Not only that, but the Bible teaches us that the spiritual is far superior to the physical.  In 1^st Corinthians 15 Paul is giving one of the most detailed and exhaustive treatises in Scripture on the doctrine of the resurrection.  As part of his discourse, in verses 42 and 43, he is answering the question of what will be the nature of our resurrection bodies.  He writes: So also is the resurrection of the dead.  It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

            In every category Paul makes it clear that the spiritual is greater than the physical.  Material bodies perish and decay over time.  Resurrection, or spiritual, bodies have no expiration date.  They continue in perfection eternally.  Physical bodies are born into sin and death leading to shame and embarrassment.  By contrast, resurrection bodies begin and persist in honor and glory.  Natural bodies are weak, frail, and susceptible to corruption.  Spiritual bodies are given with power and authority to rule and reign under the supreme kingship of Jesus.

            In the same way, spiritual blessings outstrip physical blessings in every way.  The reality of biblical truth is that God could choose for us to live in a cardboard shack for our entire life.  Yet, if He has seen fit to give us new life in Christ, and all the corresponding spiritual blessings that come with it, then our ultimate end is one of permanence, honor, and strength.  This does not mean that a life of poverty and weakness is an easy burden to bear.  It is not.  There is nothing wrong with being realistic about our present physical circumstances.  Yet, at the same time, we must be deliberate in recognizing the value of the blessings we have in Christ, no matter what the events on the ground look like.  We must be heavenly minded, where our glory comes from, rather than earthly focused, where our shame is rooted.

            That leads me to the next point of Ephesians 1:3.  Namely, what does Paul mean by the phrase “in the heavenly places?”  Does this mean that our blessings are restricted to the spiritual realm, incapable of relevance to our lives on earth?  Does this contradict what I have just said about the spiritual informing the physical?  In a word, no.  We can see this by examining a number of fascinating observations about this phrase, all from within the body of Ephesians.

            First, the heavenly places are where Christ is currently seated at the Father’s right hand.  We can see this in chapter 1 verse 20: which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.  The context of this verse is that the Father has demonstrated His tremendous power by raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him at His right hand, in joint rule over the cosmos.  It is a fact that, although Jesus shares the omni-present nature of His Father and is therefore in all places at all times, His physical body is tied to a particular location.  That dwelling is currently the heavenly realms rather than the earth.

            We are also to understand that, in some mysterious way that we cannot fully comprehend, we the church, although still on earth in bodies of sin and death, are currently exalted with Christ in the heavenly places.  Consider Ephesians 2:6, as Paul contrasts our current state as believers with our former situation as unbelievers: and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  Note that Paul places the act of resurrection in the past tense.  He is not referring to our future glory in heaven.  Rather, the apostle is talking about something that has already occurred.  The immediately obvious question is this.  How can we exist on earth yet simultaneously be exalted together with Christ in heaven?

            This is a mystery for which we do not possess an answer that is completely comprehensible to the human mind.  Regardless, in some way, through our position in Christ, we are currently sharing in His elevated status.

            Hand in hand with that point is the next.  We live on earth in physical bodies that experience and respond to natural events.  However, this material realm is not the true location of our spiritual conflict with the forces of evil, led by Satan.  Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12 that: our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

            We live in an age and a culture of extreme secularism.  Everything around us attempts to preclude the possibility of the supernatural.  And, we are at risk of bringing that perspective into our understanding of the Christian experience.  But, it is unmistakable from the Bible that our foe is not of natural means or composition.  We are engaged in warfare.  Yet, it is not a struggle of guns, bullets, and bombs.  Rather, we fight with faith, truth, and the word of God.

            Obviously then, because we live physical lives in material bodies, this supernatural conflict has an impact on our natural existence.  If we tear down strongholds of sin in our mind through the knowledge of God and obedience to Christ, as Paul describes in 2^nd Corinthians 10:4, then we are guaranteed to live lives of greater peace and lesser struggle, even in the midst of terrible supernatural opposition.

            Flowing from that point to the next, we read in Ephesians 3:10 that it is the church of Jesus Christ that is the tool God uses to reveal His wisdom in the heavenly places: the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

            Who are these rulers and authorities?  By cross referencing the passage from chapter 6 above we can find our answer.  In 6:11 we find that our ultimate adversary in this supernatural war is the devil himself.  Therefore, the rulers, powers, and forces that Paul lists in verse 12 must by context be evil agents of Satan.

            This is shocking in its significance.  We frail human beings, constantly beset by the weaknesses of our flesh, are the instrument that God has chosen to reveal His wisdom to the angelic beings who exist in the heavenly realms.  We must understand that although our ultimate glory is yet in the future, we have a vital role to play now in the grander scheme of God’s kingdom.  This transcends the bounds of our small little lives.  It supersedes the importance of our petty human concerns.  We have been chosen by God for greater things than what exists presently on this earth.

How do we accomplish this?  It is not by bigger church buildings, grander programs, or more slickly produced televised services.  In other words, it is not by physical means that we have an impact in the spiritual realm.  It is through the resurrection of human souls from death to life.  It is through the conformity of Christians to the image of their master, Christ.  The wisdom of God is seen when a Christian looks and acts like a different person now than when they first came to Christ years ago.  This is what we must strive for, both personally and corporately.

That is why Paul characterizes these spiritual blessings we have been given as resting in Christ.  The foundation of our redemption is in Christ.  The power to persevere in faith is in Christ.  Any hope we have of bringing pleasure to God is in Christ.  Our future hope of glory is in Christ.  Everything depends on Christ, as Paul illustrates beautifully in Colossians 1:17-20.  He writes: He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.  For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself...

In stark contrast to the glory and eternality of spiritual blessings that we have been considering stands the inglorious and impermanent nature of physical wealth.  We have already mentioned this truth several times.  Yet, it is worth dwelling on for a few more minutes.  In His great sermon on the mount, the Lord Jesus taught that treasures on earth do not last.  In Matthew 6:19-21 we read the following: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

According to Jesus it is utter foolishness to place our affections on transient things of this world that will fade and decay.  We could perhaps be excused for engaging in such lunacy if no other option was available to us.  But that is just not the case for a Christian.  Jesus points us to the spiritual blessings and treasures that we have been unpacking from Paul’s writings.  They do not fade.  They do not decay.  They are permanent.

Diverging from the Lord’s instructions here would be akin to a man hiking in the mountains who comes to a massive ravine.  To cross this natural barrier, the man sees two possibilities.  One is a flimsy rope bridge, constructed decades ago, fraying from long exposure to the elements, and missing boards from the walking surface every few feet.  The other option is a shiny new bridge, constructed of steel, embedded in the solid rock of the cliff face, and well maintained by the government.  In spite of the clear superiority of the steel bridge, the man inexplicably chooses to cross on the rope bridge, and he falls to his death when the ropes snap beneath his weight.

Not only are earthly treasures dangerous to rely on, but they have an unavoidable side effect of deadening us to the vastly more reliable nature of spiritual treasures.  Later in the gospel of Matthew, in chapter 19, we find the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus seeking to know how he could obtain eternal life.  Piercing to the heart of this man’s problem, Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and to follow Him.  The man went away in great sadness, because he was very wealthy.  Turning to His disciples in verse 23, Jesus said: “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

The point is this.  Earthly possessions have a way of drawing our attention and focus.  Unchecked, they can be a tremendous distraction that turns us away from the vital knowledge of God and expected obedience to Christ. 

I think there is application for every one of us to consider here, regardless of our financial station in life.  Stated simply, we can be distracted by wealth, obsessed with wealth, or frustrated by not having wealth. 

The first two groups are fairly obvious.  The more material wealth one has, the greater the danger that our “stuff” may distract us from the greater future treasures of God’s kingdom.  Similarly, if we perceive that we do not have enough wealth and are consumed with the desire to obtain more, we face the same end result – distraction from the spiritual blessings we already possess.

Yet, even if neither of the first two problems apply, the third is just as deadly, or perhaps even more so, because it is subtler.  Some of us do not have a lot of money, and we are not particularly concerned about it.  But, when the specter of unpaid bills, unrealized dreams, or unreachable financial goals raises its head we can be tempted toward worry or anxiety.  If that happens, then the end result is the same as the first two groups – distraction from what we have and can never lose in Christ Jesus.

Regardless of exactly how we are personally impacted by these factors, there is only one correct solution.  We must recognize the vast superiority of the spiritual blessings we have been given.  We should zero in on the kingdom of God, as Jesus taught in His model prayer (Matt. 6:10).  We can begin to accomplish this by changing our thinking.  Instead of focusing on the physical blessings of earth, we should use God’s word to re-program our minds to be primarily concerned with the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places that we have already been given.

Paul is quite helpful here, because he spends the next 11 verses of Ephesians laying out for us exactly what these spiritual blessings look like.  And every single one of them he deliberately places in the past tense as something we have already been given.  For the sake of space, I am just going to list these blessings rather than attempt to exhaustively exposit them.  But I encourage you to meditate on this incredible list of benefits that exist for one who is in Christ.

Paul begins in verse 4 by revealing that we have been chosen in Christ to be holy and blameless.  We are the purpose of all creation.  Not that all things were created for us.  Rather, all things were created as a theater in which the elect of God could be lovingly gifted to the Son by the Father.  As special love gifts, God’s intention for us is that we will be holy.  That is, unique from the world, pure and unstained by sin, and consecrated to serve God’s purposes.

In verse 5 and 6 we find that we have been predestined to adoption into God’s family.  He lovingly went out of His way to secure us a place in His home.  He is unapologetically interested in our well-being.  Yet, at the same time, God is unabashedly dedicated to His own glory.  Therefore, He gives us maximal spiritual blessings as adopted children so that He might be maximally glorified through us.

In verses 7 and 8a Paul says that we have been, incredibly, redeemed and forgiven by the blood of Christ.  Because God is so rich in grace, He has forgiven us of crimes so heinous against His nature that we can scarcely imagine the horror of them.  This is not a begrudging gift.  Paul says that God has lavished His grace upon us.  To lavish something upon someone is to pour onto them abundantly, overflowingly, or excessively.

Starting in verse 8 and extending to verse 10, we are next told that we have been given special knowledge of God’s will.  He has done this through the granting of wisdom and insight to us.  This translates into right thinking, right motivations, and right choices.  What causes God to act this way?  Paul says it is His unreserved kindness toward us.  What is His ultimate purpose?  It is the establishment of His kingdom in Christ.

Following that, in verses 11 and 12, our inheritance is unveiled.  As adopted children of the king, we are entitled by birthright to the wealth of the kingdom.  This future reward has been predestined for us, before the world was even created.  And, as Peter says in his first epistle, it is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade over time.

Finally, so that we will know and have confidence in these spiritual blessings, Paul says in verse 13 and 14 that we have been sealed into Christ by the Holy Spirit.  This sealing means that we are glued, or attached, or connected to Christ.  We cannot be removed from Him.  This has been done for us as a guarantee of the fulfillment of God’s promises, so that we will exalt Him all the more for His glorious power, and exult in Him more completely for His gracious kindness.

          This list of spiritual blessings is an incredible treasure trove of riches for the one who is in Christ Jesus.  I think the reason Paul expends such effort in listing them for us is because he wants us to think in terms of heavenly rather than earthly treasure.  He wants us to renew our minds through the glorious truths of God’s promises to us.  And, by training ourselves in righteousness, by using this knowledge and by reliance upon the Holy Spirit to ensure that we do not forget, we can begin to experience the rest that George Herbert spoke of in his poem.  We will not experience ultimate rest until we are glorified in heaven with King Jesus.  But, a thorough and ongoing consideration of the unimaginable wealth we have in Christ will go a long way toward orienting us in the right direction now, as we await our future glory.