Closer Day By Day

Bible Passage:  Ephesians 3-4

Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus emphasized the church herself, of which Christ is head. Chapters 3 and 4 can be broadly divided as follows:

• God’s eternal plan of salvation is extended to the Gentiles (Eph 3:6)
• Through the Holy Spirit, the believers can begin to comprehend the love of Christ (Eph 3:14-21)
• Believers are strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (Eph 3:16)
• The church is formed united in Christ Jesus. Her members remain pure amidst the mud and mire and press onwards with good works (Eph 4)

Paul had established the church in Ephesus on his third missionary journey about three to five years earlier. His purpose of writing this letter to the church of Ephesus was to strengthen the Christians there.

Being a prisoner in Rome and awaiting trial, Paul could not revisit the church in Ephesus, as he had revisited other churches which he established during his first and second missionary journeys.

He wrote this letter to the Ephesians to do what he could not do in person. His concern for the church in Ephesus did not stop or change due to his current circumstances. He recognized that which held eternal value and was a powerful worker of our everlasting God.

Paul did not look highly upon himself and counted his personal achievements (Matt 6:3), in fact, he saw himself as someone who was the least of all yet attempting to spread the richness of God’s word (Eph 3:8). With all diligence, even in prison, Paul had the believers’ faith in mind and encouraged them to keep pure and holy in response to God’s saving grace.

Pressing onwards to do good amidst all the lies, hypocrisy and mud and mire of the world we live in is like riding a bicycle or rollerblading uphill. We have to have the basic skills of riding first, and then start gaining momentum before we ride uphill because gravity and the condition of the road (steepness, friction) will pull us back downhill. To receive and act out God’s word, it is crucial to set our hearts right, just like the good ground in the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:8-9, 23). If our hearts do not hold in regard God’s word when we hear it, then we have let God’s word fall by the wayside (Matt 13:3-4, 18-19) or if our understanding of our faith is superficial; we enjoy coming for service but do not pursue or try to understand our faith better, then we are not rooted and the devil can snatch away what did not really take root in our hearts.

Having set our hearts right (ground) to receive the word of God (seeds), we now start gaining momentum to do good works. In Preacher Aun Quek’s sermon last night, he spoke of how Jesus told the people to take heed even when they were doing good deeds.

Why do we need to be careful whilst doing good? Isn’t the good that we are doing reaping something good and hence beneficial to everyone? What is it we need to be cautious about?

He referred to Matt 6:1-4.

Do Good to Please God

¹ “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ³ But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

When we strive to do all the good that the Bible tells us (there are quite a few in Eph 3-4 alone e.g. Eph 4:1, 15, 23-24, 31-32), we have to be cautious of 3 things:

(1)    We do a charitable deed out of pure intentions and from a good motivation, and not because we want to be known and seen as a good person. (Matt 6:1)

(2)    We do good anytime, anywhere, not just when we know we have an audience. (Matt 6:2)

(3)    When we have done a good to someone, we forget the good that we do quickly, and not harbour the glory within ourselves, constantly reminding and expecting repayment from our the recipient of our good deeds. (Matt 6:3)

May God guide us to always search our hearts for impurities that we can discard, and tend to our hearts carefully so we have a healthy heart where good things will flourish.