Category: Ephesians

–Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly (Ephesians 3:2).

I do this.

I’ll be in the middle of telling someone a story, and then I’ll think of some important piece of information that they really oughta know if they’re going to fully appreciate the story, so I’ll go off on a little verbal side trip to supply the needed facts.

Of course, sometimes my side trips are so long that I forget my original destination.

That’s what Paul does here. Not the forgetting part, but the side trip part. Mid-sentence, he realizes  that some of his readers may not be familiar with his background, so he pauses to bring everybody up to speed. I love this. It reminds me that, though Paul’s writing was inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit, it came through the conduit of an actual real human being.

God working through his people, with all the quirks that entails.

Anyway, somehow Paul manages to drop the bomb that God has communicated the greatest secret of the universe directly to him while sounding humble about it. He speaks of grace, and revelation, and points out that this magnificent truth was given for their benefit.

Meaning our benefit

Meaning your benefit

I gotta tell you–I probably would have found some way to take at least a little credit here.

Which is probably why Paul is Paul, and I am Michael.

God loves you. He crafted the grandest plan in all of forever to bring you to himself, and then he shared the secret with you.

Because he loves you–did I say that already?

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles…(Ephesians 3:1)

Paul wasn’t being metaphorical.

He was actually in prison.

Why? For preaching the Gospel.

That’s why Paul says he’s the prisoner of Christ, because he was following the call God had placed on his life, out of love for God and for those who deeply need God in their lives.

No, Beloved, the question is not whether you could endure prison for Christ’s sake. Of course you could.

The question is not whether you’re doing enough for him. Of course you’re not. You never will. Grace, remember?

No, the question is, are you content to live in obedience to him, whatever that may look like? I am quite sure that Paul’s life was not turning out the way he had envisioned, but it was the life he embraced, because it was the life he was led to by the One who knew him best and loved him most.

What is he leading you to? Are you following?

Happy Monday, Beloved.

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit  (Ephesians 2:22).

He lives in you

and me

and you and me.

You know that, right?

It’s pretty cool,

and

kind of scary.

I mean, what if I’m not up to His standards?

Well, guess what, Beloved?

I’m not…and neither are you.

No offense, but apart from grace we wouldn’t be fit for a roach motel, spiritually speaking.

But…

we are not apart from grace.

We are covered in grace.

We are all mixed up in it, and the Builder is applying it liberally to his project.

Sorta like spiritual bondo–only it heals instead of just covering up.

So don’t worry about whether the house is worthy of the One who lives there.

Let the contractor take care of that.

You…you just keep the door open.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21).

In him

Not just for him–though it is for him.

Not just to him–though it is to him.

In him

So…we are a temple to God, and the temple is in God, and Christ himself, who is God, is the foundation stone of the temple.

I don’t totally get it,

but

I like it.

I also like that, when you admire a building, you are admiring the entirety of it, not the individual pieces. I mean, you don’t usually hear someone exclaim, “Wow! Look at that brick!” or, “Hey, what a great slab of marble!” or, “Now that there’s a 2X4 if’n ever I seed one!”

Which means that if I, as brick #94738274, am a little wobbly or chipped or cracked or rough, it’ll be OK. I’m still part of something truly amazing. Something holy to the Lord of the Universe.

I’m not that important

and yet

I’m absolutely essential.

Yeah, I don’t totally get it,

but

I like it.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).

The cornerstone is the one that determines the placement of every other stone in the building.  Without it, there is no beginning, no structure, nothing at all.

Jesus is the One you build your life

your hopes

your dreams

your world

on.

Solid as a rock, and then some.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets…(Ephesians 2:20)

We’re so silly.

We, as a society, have this tendency to throw out and disregard anything that we deem “old.”

Music

Fashion

History

People

It’s a pride thing, really. We find it threatening to think that something may have been excellent before we ever even existed. It’s just so hard to imagine that some things might have been just dandy-fine without our input.

So, we go for new-new, shiny-shiny.

When it comes to theology, I mostly go old school.

Take a moment this morning to thank God for those who have gone before us, who lived and taught and sacrificed and suffered and even died for the sake of the Gospel, so that you and I can read pithy devotions on our mobile devices. Some of the names are famous, and some we’ll never know this side of glory, but they all have served to bring Truth to a lost and dying world.

And just maybe, if the Lord tarries, our names will one day be on that list.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…(Ephesians 2:19)

You belong.

No longer alone

No longer an outsider

You are family.

Now, listen, families aren’t always perfect.

They squabble.

They battle.

They include OCD firstborns

and spoiled babies

and angst-ridden middle kids.

Then there’s the occasional psycho cousin that you try to avoid.

You know, unless that’s you.

But here’s the deal: whether you grew up in Mayberry or Dysfunction Junction, you now belong to a family that is eternal.

We have a perfect Father, a righteous big brother, and forever to get it right.

I can’t wait to see the whole family photo.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near  (Ephesians 2:17).

Pace Domnului

When I was in Romania many many many years ago, this was a common greeting between the brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s pronounced pah-chay-domn-loo-eee.

Sort of

I remember the children getting the giggles every time I tried to communicate in their tongue. I can only assume it was because my pronunciation was so perfect it delighted their very souls.

In any case, Pace Domnlui translates roughly to “Peace of the Lord.” Embedded in the greeting is the understanding that peace comes only from Christ, that he alone can bring peace to our crazy lives, our frantic schedules, our troubled and fearful and utterly stressed-out minds.

Pace Domnlui, Beloved of Christ.

Oh, and Happy Friday

His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility (Ephesians 2:15-16).

Those who were bound by legality

and

those who were lost to licentiousness

brought together

at the cross

and made new,

bought and

paid for and

finally

forever

free.

Thank you, Jesus

and

Happy Thursday, Beloved

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations (Ephesians 2:15).

Now wait a minute, Paul.

Jesus himself said, Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

So…

Beloved, I know you know I’m no Bible scholar, but this is how it seems to me:

The Law is good. God created it, and if Man could live by the Law, it would save him.

But

man couldn’t…not even for a little bit. So the Law became a wall dividing men from God, and dividing Jews from everyone else.

When Jesus came and lived the Law to perfection, he became the only one ever to earn Heaven on his own merit. When he died on the cross, paying a price he didn’t have to pay, he completed the process of atonement that no one else could complete.

Hence, It is finished.

So it seems to me that when Paul talks of abolishing the Law, he is speaking of those effects of the Law that separate us, the “commandments and regulations” that kept people divided into camps.

Jesus died and rose to knock down walls.

So, let them fall.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.