{"id":1901,"date":"2022-08-19T09:51:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T13:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1901"},"modified":"2022-08-19T09:52:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T13:52:06","slug":"already-and-not-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/19\/already-and-not-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Already and Not Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Throughout the month of August, we\u2019re taking a close look at 23 verses of the New Testament.  They comprise Ephesians chapter one, which paints one of the Bible\u2019s most comprehensive pictures of what it means for ordinary people to be \u201cin Christ.\u201d  <\/em>
 
A number of years ago, Steve Hein, a close friend in ministry, went on a mission trip to Brazil.
 
He had been working on his Portuguese and wanted to be able to help lead worship in the Brazilians\u2019 native tongue.  At the end of the service, Steve courageously stood to bless the congregation.  He recited the apostle Paul\u2019s famous benediction from 2 Corinthians 13:14: \u201cMay the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.\u201d 
 
The worshipers promptly burst into laughter \u2013 which was not exactly the response he was anticipating. 
 
Instead of saying the Portuguese word for \u201ccommunion,\u201d which sounds like communal<\/u><\/em>, Steve had said what sounded like comminal<\/u><\/em>, which is Portuguese for \u201cbig truck.\u201d
 
May the big truck of the Holy Spirit be with you.<\/em>
 
What\u2019s amazing is how many times I have been stranded in a car that won\u2019t start, or been stuck in the snow, or found myself broken down on the side of the road \u2013 and all I can do is dial the number on my AAA card, say a prayer, and wait for a big truck to come and get me going again.
 
Nineteen centuries before the internal combustion engine, Paul steers us in a similar direction. 
 
Having recited a dozen or so blessings associated with trusting the Lord, he caps them all off in verses 13 and 14 with our greatest spiritual resource: \u201cWhen you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God\u2019s possession\u2014to the praise of his glory.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
 
Not everyone is impressed by such promises. 
 
I recently shared a meal with a friend who has given up on the idea of God\u2019s existence.  His life\u2019s work has brought him face to face with the depressing realities of an impoverished urban neighborhood.  He\u2019s grown weary of God\u2019s apparent absence.  And silence.  And seeming indifference to human suffering.
 
Where is God in the midst of drive-by shootings, abandoned children, sex trafficking, gangs and guns?  What\u2019s the difference between a \u201cgod\u201d who doesn\u2019t intervene and no God at all? 
 
In virtually all of his letters, Paul anticipates this tension.  Somehow he needs to explain how God is actually rescuing this world, since this world is definitely still a mess. 
 
Paul\u2019s answer is expressed in the tension of what he calls the Already and the Not Yet.  God is executing a two-part plan to heal our sin-battered planet.  Part One has already<\/em> happened.  Jesus the Messiah has come to earth in humility and weakness and shared humanity\u2019s suffering.  And he has given to all of his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Part Two has not yet<\/em> happened.  Jesus the Messiah will return in power and glory.  And the Holy Spirit will complete the transformation of all his followers.  
 
We live in the in-between place.  We have the Already, but not the Not Yet.  The world is a place where God has not yet banished sex trafficking, drive-by shootings, unscrupulous corporations, and incurable cancers.  There will often be tears in the eyes of God\u2019s people. 
 
But the Already is spectacular nonetheless.  And that\u2019s what Paul describes in the first chapter of Ephesians.
 
God\u2019s Spirit brings strength, wisdom, assurance, and understanding to those who trust Christ.  According to I Corinthians 6:19, the Spirit has turned each of us, in the words of Bible scholar N.T. Wright, into \u201cpersonalized temples of God\u2019s presence.\u201d  Nine \u201cfruits of the Spirit\u201d \u2013 including love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness \u2013 grow supernaturally within our hearts.
 
Paul says that we have been \u201cmarked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.\u201d 
 
Seals were significant in the ancient world.  Important letters were sealed to authenticate their authorship.  Cargo was sealed to ensure that no one had tampered with the contents.  God has put the seal of his Spirit on us as if to say, \u201cYou are mine, and no one else can mess with you.\u201d
 
The Spirit is also described here as a \u201cdeposit.\u201d 
 
That\u2019s a translation of the Greek word arrabon<\/u><\/em>, which indicated a down payment or first installment.  The Spirit is like an appetizer \u2013 the first taste of God\u2019s grace.  The rest of the meal, so to speak \u2013 the fullness of what God has in store for us \u2013 is coming in the future. 
 
Notice that Paul says we are among \u201cthose who are God\u2019s possession.\u201d He possesses us<\/em>.  Now we have a new way to appreciate that old Stevie Wonder song: \u201cHere I am \u2013 signed, sealed, delivered, I\u2019m yours.\u201d  Because of the Spirit who has already<\/em> been poured into our hearts, we can wait in hope for the future that is not yet<\/em> here.
 
Best of all, the \u201cbig truck\u201d of God\u2019s Holy Spirit is always on call. 
 
Even if you don\u2019t happen to have a AAA card.

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Throughout the month of August, we\u2019re taking a close look at 23 verses of the New Testament.  They comprise Ephesians chapter one, which paints one of the Bible\u2019s most comprehensive pictures of what it means for ordinary people to be \u201cin Christ.\u201d   A number of years ago, Steve Hein, a close friend in ministry, went on a mission trip to Brazil. He… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[490,480,352],"class_list":["post-1901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-already-and-not-yet","tag-ephesians","tag-holy-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1901"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1904,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901\/revisions\/1904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}