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Wednesday morning, we studied the third chapter of Ephesians. It gets deeper and richer every time we get together. It is so exciting to have an environment where people are expecting to hear from God corporately. In light of what we have been hearing and experiencing in the past couple of days about the suffering church, this passage came alive even more, as Paul discusses the joy he feels that he is suffering, because it is for the Ephesians’ glory. John Piper was our expositor this morning. Those of you who have read his books, particularly Eternity in Their Hearts, will appreciate the passion he brought to the topic of the Cross of Christ and the role of suffering and prayer in the Church. He stated, “The gospel isn’t going to spread without suffering and without prayer, because the places that remain to be reached are largely places that don’t welcome Christians. The goal of the suffering and praying is so that the wisdom of God will be manifested in all of its magnificent, varied colors to the physical and spiritual world.”
In the second plenary session, there was a poignant testimony by the widow of one of the doctors that were martyred August 5th in Afghanistan. She shared about the work they were doing in Afghanistan, and of her husband’s last communications. He called her twice a day during the trip to describe what the team was doing at the different points, and the many ways that God was using them to relieve suffering of Afghani’s in very remote places. He described the physical hardship of carrying packs of medical supplies through mountain passes. When they brought her husband’s effects to her afterwards, she found the blood spattered notes he had been writing for a sermon he was going to be delivering soon. He had written a note to himself to tell the story of the Nuristani (sp?) goat cheese. It is a particular kind of cheese that is aged while being carried in gourds on the backs of donkeys and other transport animals. As this process goes on, the cheese seems to absorb the odors of the animals and the men that carry it. It can be smelled for miles away. It is not an attractive smell. She likened this type of goat cheese to the aroma of death that Paul talks about in II Corinthians 2: 15-16. “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.” She said this goat cheese is an acquired taste and is very salty, sour, and pungent, but gives amazing strength when consumed. The weakness of Christ, which is the Cross, simply does not make sense to the unsaved man. But to those who have come to the end of their struggle and allowed their self-life to be nailed to the Cross, the discovery is that this is the only way to live.
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