The Charter of the Church (7)
Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling in which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love; being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3
Meekness – Ah, the complexity and beauty of the thought of God in Paul! After telling us that the first weight on the scale of equality with His Son is humility (the Hebrew thought of action in obedience), Paul adds the word praotetos which we see translated “meekness”. The first weight is modified by this additional quality. It is not simply outward obedience but rather outward obedience with praotetos. And what does that mean? Praotetos is a word that means, “an inward grace of the soul, calmness toward God in particular.”
Do you see the wonderful combination emerging? It is obedience and calm acceptance. Not outward action alone but outward action that is thoroughly saturated with inner acceptance. It is God in me, working through me.
Do I want to be measured on God’s balance scale? Then I will find both outward obedience and inward acceptance as the standards. It is not enough to simply bow the knee, to simply comply. I must serve the Lord with my strength and my heart. You can read this verse with the phrase “with all obedience and acceptance”. Then ask yourself, “Is this the kind of life that I live?” “Is this the character of the church?”
Certainly Jesus shows us the way. Obedience – “not my will but Your will be done in me.” Acceptance – “for the glory that lay before Him, He went to the cross.” Jesus was no complaining servant, no disgruntled soldier. He joyfully followed the Father’s will, volunteering to carry our burdens to His death, weeping over us with the light of heaven in His eyes.
Do we really understand God’s call to the church? How much of our energy is spent in utter obedience and devoted service with hearts of joyful acceptance? How much of the calm peace of God’s presence bursts forth from our hands and feet in glad celebration of His assignments? No, I’m afraid not. In a world that touts freedom as its god, we are far removed from acceptance. We share very little in common with joyful calm.
God forgive us. We have the wrong weights on the balance scale.
