Ephesians 3:14-15 (NKJV) 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
(As we head into November, I am getting ready to travel once more. It seems that this part of my ministry is beginning to fill more of my time. As usual, I hope to continue to post at least some details from my trip but, also as usual, I will probably get too busy or too tired or both. This time I will be in Athens Greece with Dr. Eldon Wilson. Dr. Wilson is one of the greatest men of God I know. He is in his 80s and still traveling all over the world. He has been to over 200 countries.
Our hosts will be Gail Stathis and Brian VanDeventer of EME ministries. They have been based in Athens for many, many years. They are doing a great work in North Africa, the middle east as well as eastern Europe. They are great friends and we are looking forward to being with them again after many years.
Finally, I will be with my 17-year-old granddaughter, Isabelle. She asked if she could accompany me if she raised the money and I readily agreed. I look forward to showing her some of the wonderful sights in Athens. Pray for us that we will be effective in this outreach to a very troubled nation.)
Last month we spent most of our time together looking at the importance of local church in relation to opening the supernatural gates to the world. We discussed the role of vision, some of the elements of the vision God gave me for our local church and finally we have been looking at Ephesians 3 in light of all of these things.
In Ephesians 3 we find that it is possible to be filled with “all the fullness of God.” Now I don not really understand what that is. I do know that I want it for our church and for the body of Christ as a whole. One of the keys we found in this prayer of the Apostle Paul is that to see this fullness, all saints must be together. I believe this begins in the local church.
Ephesians 4:16 says the church is made whole by what every joint supplies. Each member of the local church who is born again has become a “Jesus version of themselves.” Jesus was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That means everything that God could be through a human in a physical body, he was. When we are born again we have the potential to be all of God that could be expressed through our physical limitations.
When all of us who are together in one church begin to Jesus to flow through us, we will see the fullness of God manifested. It cannot happen alone. Together we become “the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This prayer contains some other keys that will help us manifest the body of Christ to the world.
In verses 14 and 15 we see the first key to walking as all saints together which is what produces the fullness of God. Paul prays to the “Father of the Lord Jesus Christ” from whom the whole family gets its name. In most cultures the identity of the family comes from the father. In American culture, this is expressed in the name change of the wife. Although this has been challenged in recent years, the common practice is still that the woman takes the man’s last name. We make an announcement at the end of the wedding ceremony that declares, “Now for the first time I present to you Mr. and Mrs. _____________________.”
Even though some resist this idea today, it is still the fathers last name that identifies the family. In most cultures it is the male’s family that is carried on in the children. It is not the woman’s family. If no son was born to a family, it is said that the line will die.
Whether you agree with this idea or not, it is hard to dispute it and it is this cultural practice that Paul is alluding to in verse 15. My family takes its identity from my name. We are all Kiefers. The children of my daughters are still my grandchildren, but they are not Kiefers. Those who know us know that they are connected to me. Those who do not will identify them with their father’s family.
Paul prays to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family gets its name. If we are going to be “all saints together” we must realize where we get our name. It is not from our doctrinal belief system. It is not from our denomination. It is not from the name of our local church. We get our name and therefore our identity from the Father. Even though we are called “Christians” and take a certain measure of identity from Jesus, he and the Father are one.
When I begin to realize that I am to be identified with the Father above all else, I open the door to walking as one with the rest of the family. When that happens locally we begin to see the beginnings of a manifestation of the fullness of God.
One thing this does not mean is that we must all be the same. It does not mean that we have to look alike, dress alike or even believe perfectly alike. There are certainly things that we must believe. We must believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. We must believe that God is real and that we must walk according to his ways. There are many things that are so foundational to Christianity that they cannot be in any way compromised. Within those uncompromised truths there is room for a great deal of variety. That variety is part of what releases the fullness of God.
Once again, let me use my own family. I have six children. Four are married and one has been through the tragedy of divorce. I have 14 grandchildren as I write this, number 15 is due in April. Each of the six people who grew up in my house is unique. There are many things they have in common but maybe even more that they do not.
Some like sports while others like music. Their taste in clothes, movies and music differ. However, they all love the Lord and they all are doing their best to build the Kingdom of God with the gifts he has given them. Most of the time they agree but sometimes there is a little bit of conflict. That conflict often serves to broaden their impact and strengthen their development.
This is even more true of my grandchildren. 12 of them live very near us. They interact all the time. They are in the church and growing in their gifts. However, there are times when they quarrel. Every now and then someone runs to their mother crying and says something like, “He hit me!” The parents work to resolve the problem and the family goes on. That is just the way family is. With all our differences, we are still family and there is an identity that comes from my name.
The body of Christ is the family of the Father. We must take our identity from him. We do not all look alike, act alike or do things the same way. We may have some differences in our beliefs but we are still take our identity from the “Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.” When we understand that, even in our differences we will become the expression of the fullness of God.
Let me finally say that being all saints together does not mean we must all be in the same local church. In my town there are two Kiefer families and two families that contain Kiefer grandchildren. They are all identified with me but they all live in different homes. At the end of the church service they know what house to go to and who their parents are. We must understand that our primary identity come from the Father even if we live in different homes or churches. If we can maintain unity in our “homes” without forgetting our identity in the Father, we will come to the place where we see “all the fullness of God.”
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