Jesus is More Than…
Reflections On Eternity
Jesus is More Than…
Ephesians has always been one of my favourite books of the New Testament. The soaring, wide open descriptions of the God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), combined with expansive insights into the Church and its designated role in society have captured and enchanted me since I chose to identify as a Spirit Filled Christian.
So today I thought I’d write about something which has stood out to me since I first started studying the bible for myself.
The City of Ephesus
The historic city of Ephesus is pretty remarkable. It was a city intimately involved in the history of the ancient world. For example, Ephesus was part of the revolt against Athens with Sparta in 412 B.C. and acted as the headquarters of King Agesilaus of Sparta in 396 B.C. Throughout the centuries, the city supported revolts and revolutions against Persia, Athens and the Romans.
By the time of Christ, they were fully connected to Roman civilisation. The city built impressive public works, including aqueducts, a triumphal arch and a deep importance as a commercial centre in the 1st century BC (as recoded by the geographer Strabo). It was one of the largest cities in the Asia Minor region and profited greatly from the time of Christ through to around 395 A.D. It was a city which was well known throughout the ancient world, wealthy on a scale recognised even by ancient Rome, and found itself situated between the east and west spheres of influence (as defined in the ancient world).
It was no small thing and no accident that as the gospel of grace about Jesus Christ gathered momentum, a growing and dynamic church found itself established in this incredible city.
This is the historical context of the letter to the Ephesians. The members of this part of the church existed in a city which knew about wealth, power and influence. They had a long, clear and physically visible history to draw upon. All around them was tangible, visible and overt evidence of power, influence and authority.
Ephesians Begins With
The first chapter dives into some beautiful statements. Straight away phrases like ‘…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…’(Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4) and ‘…according to the riches of His grace, which He made abound to us in all wisdom and prudence’ (Ephesians chapter 1:7–8) appear. Here’s a bit more:
…the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe… (Ephesians chapter 1:18–19)
Isn’t it incredible that in a city which knew wealth, knew power, knew influence and knew the impact of generational wealth building the letter immediately identifies salvation, grace and the immense power of Christ as pre-eminent.
To make sure that this is clear, the letter continues:
…and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which 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 principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named…
When you think about the historical context of Ephesus these statements are kind of crazy. Christianity at the time was just one of many religions, the God we worship considered just one of many.
To claim that this God was in a position of rulership, more powerful than anything and anyone else was…nuts. It could be considered either extremely blasphemous or so over the top as to be considered comical. A laugh or a joke. Not to be taken seriously.
To bring in language of wealth, power and influence into this city was to engage on a topic where the citizens were leaders in field. Literally like debating rocket science with a rocket scientist.
Yet that’s where the letter begins.
The First Chapter Frames Some Remarkable Observations
Like any effective piece of persuasive writing, this chapter frames the rest of the book. It lays out the rest of its discussions about the church, our role within the church and many other famous pieces of scriptures in the context of Gods power and authority, and the wonderful riches of His grace.
These are all pretty cool and maybe one day I’ll get to write about them.
However, it’s the contextually wild claims laid out by this framing which I desire to explore quickly today. Here’s some thoughts.
Richest of the Rich
One of the implications of the approach in this book is that no matter how wealthy (or not) you are, Jesus is more. You could be wealthiest of the wealthy or the poorest of the poor and the wealth we experience in Christ is more. If the riches of His glory are worthy of boasting to the wealthiest of the wealthy, then they are far above any kind of earthly wealth.
The most wonderful part of this?
The incredible wealth of His glory and grace is available to anyone who chooses Him. Regardless of your family background, socio-economic status or any other thing you can think of, it’s available to you.
His glory and His grace are the standard upon which all else is measured.
Most Powerful of the Powerful
Another implication of the phrasing in this book is the incredible greatness of Gods power towards those who believe.
The power referenced here is defined as the power used to raise Christ from the dead and seat Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians chapter 1, verses 19–20). This kind of power is the power to return life to the dead, and then position in a place of authority.
As with the riches of glorious grace, we see this power made available to those who believe in Him.
Once again, the sheer ridiculousness of this statement in its historical context is apparent. The city of Ephesus was a city with a proud history of extraordinary power, wealth and influence. The influential families of this city had connections throughout the ancient world, and influential families throughout the ancient world had branches and people in this city.
Power, wealth and influence in this city were earned. You had to “be someone” to get it. To ‘get it’ elevated you above the common people. Don’t even get started on the extremely common practice of slavery in these times.
Along comes this upstart religion claiming that:
- Their God is more powerful than anyone else, and
- The requirement to access His power is to believe in Him no matter who you are
When you reflect on these statements in context, they’re pretty wild. You could be anyone, with any amount of connections (or none) and the same power is available to you.
As crazy as those statements were, they were 100% true then and they’re 100% true now.
The question is — do you believe them?
Jesus is More Than…
My final observation is that this part of scripture shares a principle that I think of as Jesus being ‘more than’.
I find the way that Jesus is identified and contrasted in this chapter remarkable. In a city renowned for extreme wealth, the wealth of Jesus’ glorious grace is identified as riches. In a city intimately involved in power and exercise of it globally, Jesus’ power is identified as exceedingly great.
It’s a pattern repeated elsewhere in the bible. Take Joshua (the guy who took over from Moses). Joshua is a talented commander of the army of Israel, and he meets the Commander of the Lords Armies (Jesus) on his travels through the promised land. I.e. in the area of Joshua’s greatest strengths, Jesus is identified as the ultimate fulfilment of this area.
Jesus is more than whatever He is calling me to be. Jesus is more than whatever He is calling you to be.
Jesus has always been and will always be the ultimate fulfilment of whatever task He assigned us in His glorious Kingdom.
For me that’s incredibly comforting. It means the ultimate fulfilment of my calling is to see Jesus. Jesus at the beginning, Jesus in the middle and Jesus right there at the end.
Pretty awesome!
