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Blessed to Bless

We watch through screens in our palms as water desecrates trees and streets, leveling homes and lifting cars; natural disasters rendering communities homeless overnight. Our own windows still intact as we putter from place to place. We hear of young women who must travel miles on end just for a drink of dirty water, while we ourselves are able to take quick steps to the nearest faucet in our own homes. We hear stories of those who must whisper the gospel in secret and hide their Bibles for fear of death or discrimination, while we are able to share freely our praise and worship to God.

As a faith community based in the West, we are blessed beyond measure, and we are also arguably the wealthiest Christians in the history of the world. At times, in the face of such hopelessness and despair in our world, it can be paralyzing.

The question is why have we been so blessed and what do we do with it?

We can draw from God’s promise to Abraham for some insight:

“… I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

God is inviting Abraham into a dance, where God promises to supply the blessing, and Abraham will be a blessing. It was never about preserving or profiting from his blessings—it was always about being a vessel to share God’s goodness to the rest of the world.  

As Christ-followers, we are woven like threads into the tapestry of the history of saints and believers who come after Abraham. We are among sands that God asks Abraham to count as his blessings. We are the stars in the night sky.

And when God tells Abraham, “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” we not only are inheritors of this blessing, but we too are invited into this dance.

As Tim Keller writes, “Mercy is commanded, but it must not be the response to a command, it is an overflowing generosity as a response to the mercy of God which we received.” We don’t have to be overwhelmed with helplessness when we face the hardships of the world, because, like Abraham, God empowers us to respond to His mercy.

He is the one who blesses us to bless the world around us.

To be a blessing is to respond out of the overflow of God’s goodness.

Expressions of Blessings

As we step into our tenth year, we step in with a new expression of how we plan to bless the world through our church. Currently, at Ekko, we have three primary expressions to serve and love the community around us. The first is our Mary and Joseph Initiative, where we host and serve vulnerable children and families in our communities in partnership with Olive Crest. Second, we serve through our Special Abilities Ministry, where we provide respite care for families with children with special needs. This takes the form of rEcess, a once-a-month free respite program for families and with Ekko Buddies on Sundays, which creates the space for a child with special needs to experience God at church with a Buddy. And third, our Ekklesia Home Groups have been partnering with local nonprofits in order to serve and bless their respective regional neighborhoods.

And now, as we prepare to celebrate God’s faithfulness to our tribe at our ten year anniversary, we are introducing our fourth expression to bless others: the Missions and Outreach Fund.

Because our church has been so faithful in giving tithes and offerings, we have the opportunity to begin a rhythm of giving corporately. Following Paul’s words to the church in Corinth:

“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…”

— 2 Corinthians 9:11

As a body, we can give to help the communities made desolate from natural disasters, we can financially partner with organizations to implement life-changing and community-altering measures. We can mobilize missionaries and evangelists to share the Gospel where we ourselves cannot go.

This expression will allow us to implement change on a greater scale as a body moving as one.

And like Abraham, we are financially and spiritually enriched so that we can bless and be generous on every occasion. The manner in which we will be giving corporately will address three facets of need: to provide relief, revival, and reform.

Relief is about providing immediate financial and material aid for basic necessities or providing Sabbath rest (i.e. shelter, food, water, medicine…etc.)

Revival pertains to the preaching of the Gospel through equipping and supporting campus ministries, church ministries and other forms of evangelism.

Reform will cover systemic change bent toward Kingdom values and fuel efforts to initiate long-term generational change.

Paralleling the model that Jesus calls us to share the Good News to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth, we are participating in change locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

So what does this mean for us as members of Ekko?

This means a portion of everyone’s tithes and offerings will be contributed to our Missions and Outreach Fund to participate in any of the three R’s above. Each time we give, the body will be informed of which organization and which need it addresses.

This also means that we will have opportunities throughout the year to give as a body and in faith for special occasions or specific needs. There will also be openings to serve and go on mission trips to give our time and energy.

We began by giving to relief efforts for Hurricane Florence and Tsunami and Hurricane in Indonesia through the nonprofit Global Giving. We gave toward relief, revival and reform to Express Eden located in Mozambique (A church meeting the needs of the community, physically, spiritually, emotionally).

We partnered with Union Rescue Mission (Homelessness) and Pathways of Hope (Homelessness & transitional Housing) to provide relief and reform for those without homes in our communities. And to Olive Crest and 99 Balloons to fund relief for these organizations that focus on at-risk children and parents in need and children with special abilities.

As Keller wrote, generosity is a response to the mercy we have received from God. May God move us and deepen our awareness of who He is and the price He paid for us. May He show us His blessings, so that we may be inspired to give out of the overflow.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Outreach Director, Sung Kim. (sung@ekkochurch.com)

Join us for our Ten Year Anniversary! We will be celebrating God’s faithfulness and dinner will be provided! Invite your family and friends: RSVP here. 

If you’d like to read more, please check out Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller.

Safe Families for Children is a unique family preservation program that collaborates with local churches and volunteers to support children and parents navigating difficult circumstances such as unemployment, homelessness, hospitalization, and addiction. It is a positive alternative to the child state welfare system and allows parents to arrange for their children to stay with a host family while they work through the issues that led to instability without the fear of losing custody. The program’s goal is to reunite children with their parents in a home that is healthy and stable.

rEcess is a free, monthly respite program offered to serve families with children with special needs. It allows parents to experience Sabbath rest while trained volunteers watch and play with their children in a kind and safe environment.

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Cheer Up

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:15-23 ESV)

Remember when we talked about our identity as sons and daughters in the sermon, New Story, a few weeks ago? In Christ, we are Blessed, Adopted, Redeemed, Forgiven, Inheritors and Sealed with the Holy Spirit. And, on top of that, God invites us into His peace! In light of this truth, we are able to be the most loving, trusting, forgiving, humble and peace-filled individuals.

But despite this reality, most Christians are often the ones who are most easily worried, annoyed and irritated; described often as too serious and too self-absorbed.

Seriousness can also be described as heaviness: a sign of worrying and not fully trusting God and His Word. While being self-absorbed keeps us from enjoying God, His provision and His life. The unintended result of our seriousness and self-absorption is unattractive fruit.  When we are called to help others “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8), we often display an image of rotting fruit.

So why do we fret? What is the root of our worry?

We believe in the resurrection of Jesus and His eventual return, but we often forget the Reign of Christ. Meaning, we often forget that Jesus reigns in the past, present, and future.

Question of the Day: “What would your life look like if you not only believed in the resurrection but in the reign of Christ?”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27 ESV)

Julian of Norwich describes God like this:

“Completely relaxed and courteous, He (God) was Himself the happiness and peace of his dear friends, His beautiful face radiating measureless love like a marvelous symphony.”

When we trust and know that Christ reigns, we can stop fretting. We can be completely relaxed and in His peace.

So, let’s cheer up.

Because of God, because of all the great things He has done and is doing, we can be thankful. The question shouldn’t be, “What are you going through?” but rather, “What are you thankful for?”

When we go through hardships, we have the opportunity to stay in thanksgiving and praise. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thess. 5:16-19 NIV).

Next, let’s stop beating ourselves up and instead, let’s encourage ourselves in the Lord. Let’s cheer in.

“…Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

— Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

Finally, let’s cheer out. When we fret, stay serious and self-absorbed, we are so preoccupied with our own selves, that we aren’t able to think of others with Christ’s love.

Trust God’s leadership in you, and stop self-critiquing your “performance.” Learn to laugh at yourself. Ethel Barrymore says it like this, “You grow up the day you have the first real laugh at yourself.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says to be of good cheer: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NKJV)

Let’s trust in the Lord. He has not only resurrected and defeated death, but He also reigns now and forevermore. Let’s live in peace and be of good cheer.

Pray this prayer with us:

King Jesus, You defeated Death,

So I will rejoice in Your victory. 

King Jesus, You reign now and forevermore, 

So I will wear garments of praise and a smile on my lips. 

King Jesus, You will return again, 

So I will rest in Your promises.

—

King Jesus, there is joy in Your presence,

So I will go where You lead me, 

and I will stay where You are. 

Amen.

You can listen to the sermon Cheer Up from the Ephesians series that inspired this post here. 

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Cheer Up

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A Work of Art

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

Many of us fear that we’ll make the wrong decisions in life, due to verses like these, and often that fear keeps us timid and risk-averse, worried that we won’t become what God has planned for us.

We tend to interpret these kinds of passages like this:

“God has a purpose, a plan, a position, a place, and my job is to pray and find out exactly what He wants me to do and do that only for the rest of my life. I better find out His will.”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

— Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

But, “Plans” and Wills” are actually talking about God’s “desires”

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:8-10 NIV)

The question then is: What does God like?

“In Ephesians 2:10 good works is a general and comprehensive expression for godly behavior… Put simply, it is God’s will that those who belong to the new creation should be characterized by a lifestyle which ultimately reflects his own character and action.” (Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians)

His “Plan” (Desire) from the beginning was that we may look like Jesus!

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son… We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.” – Romans 8:29-30 MSG

This means: Life is not a fixed maze, but a work of art.

The term “workmanship” (poiema) in the verse is the word from which we get the English word “poem.”

“… In a very real sense the redeemed person is God’s poetry… The translators of The Jerusalem Bible here render the noun poiema as “a work of art,” somewhat expanding the picture.” (D. Edmond Hiebert)

So then, as Pastor Bryan said, “life is an expression of gratitude, rather than a test in spiritual aptitude.”

“Above all, remember that the meaning of life is to live it as if it were a work of art. You’re not a machine. When you’re young, start working on this great work of art called your own existence.” — Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1972 Interview

As children of God, our Father loves gifts made from the heart. Thus, “good works prepared beforehand” doesn’t mean a fixed, unchangeable will of God. What if it means, we can dream up ways to bless and move God’s heart in our everyday lives.

If we are His workmanship (His poetry) than we must take care of and protect ourselves.

And if life is an expression of gratitude, we must be willing to take risks and be vulnerable and courageous.

There’s a story from a pastor named Jon Tyson. After he and his son walked around a cemetery; Jon says, “The thing you will notice about all these people is that their tombstones contain two dates. There is the date of their birth (show a date on the left side of the dash now), the date of their death (show a date of death on the right now), and a tiny dash between them. The whole of your life on earth is going to come down to that tiny little dash.” Then I pressed in a bit further. “Nate,” I said, “what will your dash be?” “I don’t know,” he said, “I guess I’m still trying to figure it out.” After a moment of reflection, he said,

“What do you think makes a great dash, Dad?”

Pray with us this week:

May my life be a Poem 

written on the palms of Your hands,

sung by the chords in Your voice,

heard by the people You love.

May it move Your heart.

May it bring tears to Your eyes.

May it be pleasing to You.

Amen.

You can listen to the sermonA Work of Art from the Ephesians series that inspired this post here. 

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Honey, I Shrunk the Cross

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV)

We grow in gratitude and adoration for Jesus when we realize the proper scale of the chasm that lay between us. But the reality is, many of us can be thankful for the chasm that was crossed, and yet we often feel joyless and tired.

The problem is that though we have a growing understanding of the chasm, we don’t have a proper vision of the cross.

“Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God…”

“…If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?”

—Galatians 3:1-3 MSG

When the cross remains small, our joy remains small and our efforts becoming tiresome. We begin to embrace a life of performing or pretending.

As we grow in awareness of God’s holiness and our sins, we have a choice; envision the cross properly or shrink the cross and compensate for it. We say, “God is holier than I thought, I don’t know if the Cross was enough to earn approval and right standing before God. I should help Jesus help me earn approval.”

Q: “ What do you count on to give you a sense of personal credibility?” 
(validity, acceptance, good standing)

Heretical Framework:
 Cross + My Contributions = Heresy

Compensating by Performing

We try to help fill the gap between God’s Holiness and the Cross by performing. We become self-righteous.

MANTRA: “I am better than others.” 

Examples:

“I care about the poor and disadvantaged the way everyone else should.” (Mercy Righteousness)

“I don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or date girls who do. Too many Christians just aren’t concerned about holiness these days.” (Legalistic Righteousness)

“I manage money wisely and stay out of debt. I’m not like those materialistic Christians who can’t control their spending.” (Financial Righteousness)

“If you really love God, you’ll vote for my candidate.” (Political Righteousness)

“I am open-minded and charitable toward those who don’t agree with me. In fact, I’m a lot like Jesus that way!” (Tolerance Righteousness)

“Religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make a man dear to God.”
— AW Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Compensating by Pretending

On the flip side, we also compensate for a small cross by pretending; by being in self-denial.

MANTRA: “I am not that bad.” 

Examples:

“I find it difficult to receive feedback about weaknesses or sin. When confronted, my tendency is to explain things away, talk about my successes, or justify my decisions. As a result, people are hesitant to approach me and I rarely have conversations about difficult things in my life.” See, I’m not that bad. (Defending)

“I strive to keep up appearances and maintain a respectable image. My behavior, to some degree, is driven by what I think others think of me. I also do not like to think reflectively about my life. As a result, not many people know the real me.” (Faking)

“I tend to conceal as much as I can about my life, especially the “bad stuff.” This is different from faking, in that faking is about impressing. Hiding is more about shame. I don’t think people will accept or love the real me.” (Hiding)

We can stop pretending and performing by confessing now because of the Big Cross!

“My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear.” — Psalm 38:4 NLT

Confess. Instead of compensating for a small Cross, have a proper vision of the cross. This frees us to confess freely.

“How happy he is whose wrong-doing is forgiven, and whose sin is covered! How happy is the man whose sin the Lord does not hold against him, and in whose spirit there is nothing false. When I kept quiet about my sin, my bones wasted away from crying all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as in the hot summer. I told my sin to You. I did not hide my wrong-doing. I said, “I will tell my sins to the Lord.” And You forgave the guilt of my sin. So let all who are God-like pray to You while You may be found, because in the floods of much water, they will not touch him. You are my hiding place. You keep me safe from trouble. All around me are your songs of being made free.” (Psalm 32:1-7 NLV)

Accept the cross. Stop performing by accepting that Jesus and His work on the cross is sufficient for you to make you holy before the living God.

Be like the thief on the Cross next to Jesus who knew the only thing he could do was believe and accept Jesus’ work on the cross. He knew he couldn’t add anything to it or pretend he wasn’t someone bad.

Preach the Gospel to yourself every day.

Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and embrace the Cross every day.

“What will today look like if I knew I was accepted because of Christ. What if I didn’t have to pretend and perform today?”

Pray with us this week:

May the Cross be ever in my focus.

I confess that only You

Are sufficient.

Only through You,

I find joy.

Only in You,

I find rest.

You can listen to the sermon Honey, I Shrunk the Cross from the Ephesians series that inspired this post here.

The above charts have been adapted from The Gospel-Centered Life by Robert H. Thune and Will Walker.

For further reading and resources, please also check out Sonship.

All images and materials are copyright protected and are the property of Ekko Church unless otherwise noted and credited to their maker. Please do not copy or distribute without permission.

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Removing the Tiles

With one hand outstretched and the other on our hearts, we commission our team of faithful, dedicated servants spearheading the Special Abilities Ministry. We say yes and amen as Pastor Janette prays, “May we welcome, engage and listen to voices of people living with disabilities and be profoundly surprised and transformed by what we discover about them, ourselves and God as we do.”

Though Sunday marks the official date we launched and commissioned this ministry, the dream actually started five years ago in a ramen shop.

“You know,” Pastor Bryan had said to Caroline, “God has been placing children with special needs on my heart,” as they were having lunch after a conference. Immediately upon hearing this, she began to cry. God had been placing these children on her heart as well, and as they came into agreement, over the course of a few weeks, God began to open doors through relationships—including a divine appointment and connection with Matt Mooney of 99 Balloons. It was through 99 Balloons that they began to download the dream for rEcess, a program provided by the organization for families of special needs.

rEcess is a free, monthly respite program offered to serve families with children with special needs. It allows parents to experience Sabbath rest while trained volunteers watch and play with their children in a kind and safe environment.


As God began to move, He started to place this heart for families and children with special needs into the members of the church. Two years after God had planted that seed, Ekko launched our very own rEcess in August 2015 with ten volunteers and two children. Since then the ministry has grown as Ekko has been able to offer God’s rest to more and more families every month.

“Rest comes when you feel like you belong and that you are loved. That is the greatest mission of the church; it is to express God’s love to His people,” Pastor Bryan said of the ministry. Rest through unconditional love and belonging is the hope that drives and shapes us in rEcess. It is about serving the marginalized in our community by providing them with the opportunity to experience God’s Sabbath and His love for them.

This is the metric of success in rEcess.

It isn’t measured by the conversion rate of families or the number of them attending, but rather, it is in incalculable rest experienced by the parents and by the children that we freely offer.

And as we do so, month after month, we find ourselves being changed. After each child has left with lunch box in tow, shoes still untied and precious art pieces made from the day, we also come away filled with the fullness of God having been a conduit of His love and His eyes to see His children and His people.

We are reminded of how much God desires rest and joy for us as well.

We come away becoming more of who God created us to be.

“To reveal someone’s beauty is to reveal their value by giving them time, attention, and tenderness. To love is not just to do something for them but to reveal to them their own uniqueness, to tell them that they are special and worthy of attention.”

― Jean Vanier

In the Gospel of Luke, we hear a story about friends who took their paralyzed friend to see Jesus, but when they couldn’t find a way to get him into the room, they did something remarkable, and, frankly, pretty inconvenient: “When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.”

Now, imagine the sweat and exertion of lifting your paralyzed friend up a ladder (careful not to drop or break him), the heat and cuts from the tiles as you worked to remove them.

Imagine the courage and the conviction you must feel as annoyed glares and shouts come from those below as you maneuver your friend down.  

What they do in this story was not easy, nor was it careless.

This was a profound illustration of deep love and devotion for a friend and a rooted faith and trust in Jesus.

All they knew was one thing: they just needed to get him into the room with Jesus.

And if they could just get their friend into his presence, that would be enough.  

Caroline said during the commission, “Through our Special Abilities Ministry, we want to remove any of the barriers that hinder families and children from experiencing God’s love and serving in the body.” Through this ministry, this is our way of removing the tiles from the roof to create the space for our children with all abilities to get into the presence of Jesus. Because much like the friends in the story, “when they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd,” we are choosing to make a way.

“Only 5 to 10 percent of the world’s disabled are effectively reached with the Gospel, making the disability community one of the largest unreached — some say under-reached — hidden people groups in the world.”

— Joni Eareckson Tada

Our Special Abilities ministry is an extension of the ministries that we currently have through rEcess and Buddies. In Buddies, each child with special abilities is paired with a buddy for that particular Sunday in order to nurture a love and joy for each individual child to encounter God in their own, beautifully unique ways. This also allows newcomers and members to attend Sunday worship gatherings with the confidence knowing their child with special abilities is paired with a trained volunteer who will lead their child through an accessible and comfortable experience at church.

The beating heart behind Special Abilities Ministry is our unrelenting desire to become more like Jesus. In the Gospels, we see our Savior leading a hospitable ministry among people with disabilities. Discipleship isn’t just about what you learn—it’s about what you do. And when we do the joyful work of making space for others who have been hidden or overlooked we, in turn, are transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus, the one who we were always meant to image.

Our dream is that our church would be a welcoming, non-intimidating place where families and children with varying abilities can belong and become the people God intended them to be.

“Through the Special Abilities Ministry, we are opened to the very heart of the Gospel and to new ways of being, thinking and living in God’s fullness of life,” Pastor Janette prays. And when the sons and daughters of God lean into our differences and learn to be hospitable to all the facets of humanity within Jesus’ body, that is when we begin to grow in our understanding of who God is and who we are in Him.

If you’re a member of Ekko and would like to participate in our mission to be a hospitable church to people of all abilities, you can serve as volunteers in rEcess and Buddies. You can also help us create a sensory room for our children with special needs by following this link.

To hear a podcast of the talk with Pastor Isaac, Pastor Bryan and Caroline Pae on the origins of rEcess, you can listen to that here.

 

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New Story

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1: 1-14 ESV)

The problem is, even though Christ has redeemed us and we are now sons and daughters of God, we often still live as Orphans. We tend to live in anxiety and fear.

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!‘” — Romans 8:15 ESV

How do you know you’re living as an Orphan? Orphan Spirit vs. Spirit of Sonship Chart š

EXAMPLE:

  • Orphan Spirit: Feels alone. Lacks a vital daily intimacy with God. Is full of self-concern.
  • Spirit of Sonship: Has a growing assurance that “God is really my loving heavenly Father.”

We often stay in these cycles.² When we face uncertainty or uncomfortable situations, we make FAST decisions and often follow the course of blaming, avoiding, victimizing… etc.

But, as a child of God, the cycle is broken. We can make SLOW decisions, and instead: bless, be neighborly, love, forgive, give and serve.Âł

  • As a child of God, I am Blessed (satisfied) and now I can Bless (and not use others for my satisfaction alone, I can take ownership over my life, be thankful in everything) and now in humility, I can help others knowing that I was weak and deserving of blame and shame.
  • As a child of God, I am Adopted, hence I can be hospitable, eating with sinners, the broken, because I know I was a sinner and contaminated everyone else. I can now by neighborly.
  • As a child of God, I am Redeemed. I am liberated from Oppression, Injustice, Past Offenses, and Offenders, therefore instead of being defined by past “Pharaohs” I can now be present and pay attention to others! I am free to love others.
  • As a child of God, I am Forgiven and in light of His mercy, I can Forgive.
  • As a child of God, I am an Inheritor of the Kingdom of God, therefore I can give generously and sacrificially without desperately asking for things in return such as money, affirmation, or acknowledgment.
  • As a child of God, I am Sealed with the Holy Spirit, therefore, I am empowered to serve.

Live like you are a Child of God, and not like an Orphan.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” — Matthew 6:25-34

Pray with us this week:

Heavenly Father, help me to remember:

Through Jesus,

I am Your child.

I have Your smile,

Your hands,

Your feet,

Your heart,

Your spirit,

But, when I forget who I am,

Remind me again of Who You are.

You can listen to the sermon New Story from the Ephesians series that inspired this post here.

š From The Gospel-Centered Life by Robert H. Thune and Will Walker. 

² The cycles were adapted from 5 Days to a New Marriage by Terry Hargrave, Ph. D. & Shawn Stoever, Ph.D. 

³ The idea of the Six courses we often subscribe to in the orphan spirit was originally adapted from a talk given by Brian McLaren. 

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