Category: Ephesians

“So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”

What does it mean to be part of a family? For all of us, we have a slightly different answer to that question. Some have had wonderful family experiences, while others have lived with pain or abuse. Regardless of your past, most likely you have some kind of ideal in your mind about what “family” should mean.

In God’s family, the word “unity” is supernatural, beyond anything we have experienced or imagined. We are not just the family members, but we are also the fibers of his house itself. Jesus is the cornerstone — the most critical piece of the entire foundation. We are so intricately connected and together we create a space for God’s Holy Spirit to dwell.

Here’s your freedom for today: we are all part of God’s dwelling place. In America we often get caught up in individualism. We forget that the Bible talks so much about the church as a collective body. Your relationship with Jesus is not just about you. Our faith is centered around God and is only possible with all of us together. You can’t live the Christian life alone because it does not reflect the spiritual reality that we are one united body. What does it mean for you to connect with your spiritual family this week?

“When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles… assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.”

God’s plans are a mystery, and I cannot begin to explain to you why God has done certain things in a certain order any better than Paul can. So let’s start with what we know: God chose people. He first offered his grace to the Jewish people, at times sparing non-Jewish people groups in Old Testament times as well, and through Jesus extended grace to the whole world.

We don’t always know how things will turn out in life. Sometimes even when we think we know the plan, there are things that come later we never expected. Or sometimes a story seems over until God opens a door that didn’t seem possible. We don’t always understand, but we do know that God loves giving gifts and offering grace.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is an includer. There is room for you at God’s table, no matter what your background or who you are. Grace is offered to you. We forget that grace is by definition undeserved. You don’t have to earn it or do something to get it. God is more than able to embrace you in whatever filthy condition you show up in. And he’s more interested in loving you than making you look good on the outside. He doesn’t want to fix you, he wants to bring you to a place where you are totally free. It’s a mystery, but God wants me and you for all of eternity.

“And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.”

The idea that Jews and Gentiles would share equally in God’s riches might not sound all that shocking to you, but to early believers it was a lot to wrap their heads around. The Jewish people thought they were an automatic “in” with God. Born in Abraham’s family? You and God are good. Outsiders? We’ve been told to stay away from them.

The problem with this thinking is that they forgot about their hearts. Being born into the right family doesn’t give you special privileges with God. Being willing to receive his grace is all that matters. God chose Paul, a former Christian-killer, to proclaim to the world that no matter who you are or where you’ve been, God is available to you.

Here’s your freedom for today: endless treasures await you. God has so much to give you — grace, riches, a family to belong to. It’s yours, no matter who you are. If you want to be in God’s family, you’re in. No entrance exam. If you have a difficult past or you’ve done some horrible things, Paul gets it. He was the worst of the worst thinking he was the best of the best. All it took was an encounter with Jesus to turn his life upside-down. God can do the same for you.

“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.”

What do you think of when you hear the word “church”? Maybe you picture a great cathedral, or stained-glass windows, or a steeple. Perhaps you think of holidays or a place you see your friends every Sunday morning. In the Bible, “church” is not a building or a place, but it is the word for the collective body of Jesus-followers. God has chosen this “church” to reveal his wisdom to the supernatural realms. Verse 10 is easy to gloss over quickly, but pause to take it in. We are displaying God’s wisdom to those in the unseen realms.

Pausing on that thought reminds me of a word Paul has been using quite a bit in this letter: mystery. We have almost no real concept of how God’s plan is fully playing out in the supernatural realm. We see glimpses, part-truths, but we cannot comprehend God’s plan or even how he is using us to fully display his glory.

Here’s your freedom for today: we can come to God with bold confidence. God has given us access to himself and permission to come. We are part of his active work — we are participants in an eternal and supernatural story. Our boldness is not because we are worthy, but because he has chosen to love us and include us and make us worthy. Why should we wonder what God thinks of us? He is not sizing us up to see if we are good enough. He simply says, “Come on in!” and we walk through the door in prayer, unaware of just how many supernatural dominoes that starts tipping over.

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

When Paul thinks about God’s plan and the way Jesus has given us access to the Father, he just falls to his knees. Prayer and praise is the appropriate reaction when we think about the incredible love of God and the salvation he offers us. What is deepest in Paul’s heart is for the Ephesian believers to be empowered by the Spirit. Surprisingly, the reason Paul wants them to be empowered is not to do more miracles or even share the Gospel more effectively. He wants something much deeper for them: intimate knowledge of God.

When we are empowered by the Spirit and see with spiritual eyes, we start to see glimpses of the riches of God’s love. When we taste this goodness, we trust him more and more. We get stronger, just as trees grow taller and wider as their roots grow deeper. All of this is too much for our finite minds to fully understand, but even the small bits we can grasp are sweeter than anything else we can imagine.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is working harder on your life than you are. He’s working with you, but he’s also at work behind the scenes, accomplishing far more than we could ever ask or think. We don’t know what we need, but God does and he’s already doing it. My children don’t have a clue how much I do for them when they are busy playing. And frankly they don’t appreciate it (yet). But having a clean house to live in or food to eat benefits their lives whether they have asked me to care for them or not. A “thank you” is nice, but I’ll keep taking care of them even without it. Why? Because I love them. And if I as a human being can do that, how much more is God meeting needs you don’t even know you have? Praise him today for all he is doing that is far beyond your comprehension.