Theme: Paul as Prisoner for the Gospel & The Apostle’s Prayer
3:1 Paul is referring to the theology that he has outlined in chapters 1&2.
3:2-4 This is referring to his revelation of Christ on the Road to Damascus. If you read other parts of Paul’s writing, he apparently had a very complete revelation of who and what Christ was on that day. He says that he is the only apostle that had never met Jesus before his crucifixion and resurrection, but met him as the resurrected Christ which is how we meet him.
Paul is reminding people that once he wasn’t a Christian – in fact he was violently opposed to the Christian movement. He was given a commission by the Temple authorities to be in charge of persecuting Christians. Paul couldn’t touch the Gentiles who had converted but under Jewish authority he was allowed to imprison and execute Jews who were Christian under charges of heresy. He had caused a lot of the Jewish/Christian community to flee Jerusalem, and he was heading to Damascus to continue his efforts, probably with a small Temple police force, when he was struck down from his horse by Christ and was blinded. A Christian in Damascus healed him, and he started to learn about Christ and then began to preach the Gospel. This story was probably well known by everyone who knew him – so he doesn’t need to mention it further.
Q: Have you ever had a sudden revelation of who Christ is to you or something that you should do for Christ?
People shared their encounters with Christ. They were a personal so I don’t want to connect with names, but I can give examples: A person who was given a vision when a mother died; another when a grandmother died; and another during the incidents of 9/11.
All of these carried with them the certainty that God or Jesus was with them.
3:5-6 The mystery refers to how we can connect with God. Christianity wasn’t a “mystery cult” like many religions in the ancient cultures. This made it a radical idea and movement.
Note that Paul is once again saying that by accepting Christ that gentiles are brought into the Hebrew covenant with God.
3:7 Servant of God: Paul often refers to himself as Christ’s servant.
Q: What do we think is the role of a servant?
* Doing what the master asks you to do.
* Doing little actions so that someone can spend time on bigger tasks
Or doing the little stuff so God can have the big stuff happen.
* Anticipate the needs of others.
3:8-9 Paul probably puts in “the least of all saints” because some churches had been saying that they followed or were disciples of Paul, or other apostles. Paul wants us to remember that he is ONLY the servant of Christ, not a substitute for Christ. Paul truly believed that his mission/job was to bring the gospel to people who weren’t Jewish.
Q: What do you think some of your missions have been in life?
* As a secretary bringing humor to the office or to memos to relieve daily stress of the job.
* Led to take get involved in elderly care after retirement.
* Help revitalize a church
Even small acts are something that God values
3:10-11 Paul is joining the church corporate to the worshiper-individual. The church as a collective is a place for their members to find their purpose in Christ and then to realize it. The community is the support of the individual and the individual the support of the community.
Q: Do you have a mission that you want to do that you feel the church can help you with?
Q: How do you feel that churches can help people support their ministry?
This brought about a discussion of things that we could do for the people at the Sharon Health Care nursing home who are isolated because of the crisis. One of our Bible study members had been in touch with the director who mentioned that they need activities for people who were confined to their rooms, like coloring books, puzzle books and colored pens. So we had a discussion of how we could help out.
3:12 The church should not be afraid to act because a mission will have the support of Christ.
3:14-20 This is Paul’s prayer to the congregation so that they will be strengthened in their faith and strengthened to do ministry. Below I have reworked it as an individual prayer.
Reworking of Paul’s prayer as a prayer for an individual: Heavenly Father I bow before you. From you every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of Your glory, You may grant that I may be strengthened in my inner being with power through Christ’s Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith, as I am being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that I may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that I may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all that I can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Q: If you were going to create a prayer for our church what would you like to include in it? Look at some of the subjects from Paul’s prayer below – but you can add your own. Remember Paul is speaking to the church in Ephesus, but we want to think of what Sharon needs.
Paul’s Ideas to pray for
|
Ideas for our church
|
Strengthening in our inner being
with the Holy Spirit’s Power
|
This is a list of things we need to pray for in Sharon UMC
* All of our members will be safe
|
Christ dwell in our hearts
|
* Reach the younger community of adults
* Financial certainty
|
Our faith rooted
and grounded in love
|
* Increase our membership
* Maintain relationship with each other
|
Power to comprehend the
full love of Christ and God
|
* Look for outreach programing
|
Ability to accomplish our tasks
|
No comments:
Post a Comment