A Person Can Count on this Kind of Love

“Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)

For several paragraphs of this letter Paul has been writing about the “life worthy of our calling.”

These instructions are pivotal words about the quality of a Christ-followers life. They are central to what he’s trying to get across to us. Our relationships are high priorities to Paul.

It makes sense that they would be. Jesus was his Teacher. And He – Christ Himself – lived a life of “sacrificial love.” Furthermore, He told His followers on the night before His final, magnanimous act of love, that it would be “by this” that all people would know that they were His “followers.” Their identity as Christ-followers would be confirmed, Jesus said, in that they “love one another.” No wonder relationships matter to Paul.

Our love, he explains, is characterized by “subjugation.” This is a strong word. We tend to be uncomfortable with it. We humans have fought long and hard against slavery. And this word implies servitude. But he’s chosen it on purpose. It literally means “to subordinate.” It’s a Greek military term meaning to “arrange under the command of a leader.” Outside the military context, it was understood as a “voluntary attitude of giving in, co-operating, assuming responsibility, carrying a burden.” Christ-followers are their “Brother’s or Sister’s Keeper.” As the song says, “He ain’t heavy. He’s my Brother.” One woman, who had just experienced this love as a newcomer to the fellowship of Christ’s followers, described life there as her “initial experience of the kindness of Christ.” Jesus was right. His brand of love is a persuasive thing.

Paul goes on to point out something even more important about our relationships. He says that they’re acts of worship; “reverence for Christ.” When we love another we are showing respect for their Creator. We are agreeing with God that it is “good” for them to be alive. We agree with Christ, who sacrificed His own life to salvage them, that they are valuable; infinitely valuable. We recognize that to care for another to the extent that we will serve them, even carry their burden, is to care for Jesus Himself. (See Matthew 25:40.) Our subjugation to one another is proof that we believe in the importance and power of his kind of “sacrificial love.” Such attention to one another springs from the awe and wonder we have as we see Christ shaping each of us in His image. We “revere” one another. In doing so we “revere” Him.

Such love is our highest calling. A person can count on this kind of love!

People a Person Can Count On ...

“As God’s prisoner, then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling.” (Ephesians 4: 1)

Paul’s taken us to Heaven – the “real unseen world” that is our environment – and shown us how God sees us. Now he brings us back to earth and the time-bound realities we must cope with day-after-day.

He begins with a personal reference. “God’s prisoner,” is the credential he presents to give him credibility with his readers. He’s not Rome’s prisoner. No, our Lord, Christ is his Supreme Commander. He has been since that day when He appeared in blinding light and called, “Saul! Saul!” Under Christ’s rule Paul has travelled the Roman world establishing Churches in virtually every Province. But here, now, in his final letter to those Churches, he does not use these phenomenal achievements as his credential. Under Christ’s rule he’s now imprisoned. That’s his credential. The “suffering” Jesus is his Master. To endure pain and bondage with Him is the highest calling Paul could imagine. He saw it as the primary credential a Christ-follower could present.

Furthermore, to be “in chains” and still focused on his “high calling,” is the fabric you’d expect to find in a Christ-follower. Our Lord never lost focus. In the throes of pain no human can imagine the “Grace” of the Father was still unmistakably present. He prayed for His tormentors. “Father forgive them,” He prayed. “Truth” was not compromised in His prayer either. “They don’t know what they’re doing,” He prayed. He knew they were blind to what they were doing. They’d been seduced by the tempter and deceived into believing that Jesus’ claims were fraudulent. His compassion overrode the agony in His heart. The compassionate love of the Father still weighed more heavily on His tortured mind than the loneliness He felt in that darkest of all nights.

Paul, Christ’s Servant, never loses focus either. He can be counted on. His message is backed by his life. “Grace and truth,” the character traits of Our Father and His “only begotten,” will characterize this “prisoner.” We can “count on” his instructions for “life worthy of the highest calling.”