Here are some items from Wednesday’s LCMS Bible study.
A. One of our texts was Ephesians 3:17-18, in which Paul hopes that
Christians will grasp the height, depth, length, and width of the love
of Christ. One lady’s Bible said that this means that God’s love can
touch whatever situation we are experiencing. The pastor observed that
height, depth, and width makes the shape of a cross, which highlights
that it is through the cross that we experience Christ’s love. But the
cross is significant in another respect, the pastor continued. While we
hope to bypass suffering, it is in our suffering that God shows us
God’s love, sometimes in ways that we do not know. We also discussed
the Book of Esther. God is not mentioned in that book, but Mordecai had
confidence that the Jews would be delivered, perhaps because he
recognized that God chose the Jewish nation for a purpose and made
promises to her. God was at work behind the scenes, as is the case in
the world and in our lives. God meets us in our pain and uses it: our
pain can encourage us to pray for others in pain, and our mistakes can
encourage us to pass on forgiveness to others.
B. A theme in Wednesday’s study was unity in Christ. The pastor
believes that Paul wrote Ephesians and that it was relevant to the
Judaizers controversy. The pastor compared the controversy to the
situation of the LCMS in the 1950’s. People were moving to rural areas
and suburbs, and more were joining LCMS on account of its schools. The
long-standing Lutherans felt that these newcomers did not grasp what it
meant to be Lutheran. Similarly, the Judaizers in Paul’s days saw
Gentiles coming into the church and thought that the Gentiles were
detached from the roots of Christianity, namely, the Torah. They
believed that the Gentiles needed to become circumcised Torah-observant
Jews to be Christians. Paul, however, was saying something different.
Paul proclaimed that Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled to God
through Christ’s death, so they are one people. Jewish traditions that
separated Jews from Gentiles, such as the tradition that kept Gentiles
from the Jewish sections of the Temple, are invalid, as Jews and
Gentiles are equal worshipers of God within the body of Christ. The
pastor also talked about Gnosticism and likened that to the Jesus
movement in the 1970’s. There were people who were differentiating
between regular believers and “disciples,” as if the latter were
superior. People who have intense spiritual experiences can fall into
the trap of thinking that they are above other believers. Paul in
Ephesians 3:17-18, however, encourages Christians to see the love of
Christ as all that they need.
C. Another of our texts was Jeremiah 17:5-8. Those who trust in
human beings are like a destitute plant in the desert, whereas those who
trust in the LORD are like lush trees planted by the waters. The
pastor said that Jeremiah was contrasting looking to alliances for
preservation from Babylon with trusting in God. The pastor also said
that the Hebrew word for blessed here means a physical blessing, not the
state of happiness that the Sermon on the Mount is talking about.
D. Another text that we discussed was John 15:5, where Jesus affirms
that he is the vine and his disciples are his branches, and those who
abide in him bear fruit. In 14:31, Jesus says, “Arise, let us go hence”
(KJV), and the pastor speculated that Jesus may have spoken the words
of John 15 on the way to Gethsemane. He and his disciples may even have
passed grape vines, and Jesus used them as a teaching opportunity. A
lady’s Bible notes said that the fruit of John 15 is not just converts
but answered prayer, joy, and love, which are mentioned in John 15-16.
The pastor replied that the entire Christian life is the fruit of
abiding in Jesus.
E. People were sharing stories about loved ones’ experiences with
natural disasters. One lady said that relatives are currently in a
hotel because their home has been destroyed, and the head of the
household is not the sort of person who likes disruption. Someone else
told of when his brother lost his job and his house due to a natural
disaster and, years later, he is still shaken by that. These are
horrible experiences, but something that I appreciate about this church
is that I get to hear about the real world. Amidst this reality, people
are still faithful.