Ephesians 4:11-14

Ephesians 4:11-14 

English Standard Version 

  What's the purpose of leadership in the church?  It's to equip each and every one of the saints of the church for the work of ministry.  Ministry isn't relegated to the professionals, and it doesn't just happen in the church.  We're all called to join together for the purpose of declaring the Gospel to the world, announcing that we don't have to deal with the instability and chaos the world loves.  We can anchor ourselves into something deeper, something true, something lasting and eternal, none of which the world can offer.  

  May we take our calling seriously, studying the Word and praying through our days, relying on the Holy Spirit to keep our feet steady and our hearts focused on Christ and on Christ alone.

Ephesians 4:7-10

Ephesians 4:7-10 

English Standard Version 

  When you see flowers blooming, do you stop?  I always do the first time... but it's easy to take them for granted after that.  We get accustomed to them and they fade into the background.  We don't stop to stare and wonder at the their intricate beauty.  We're too busy for that.... we have places to be.

  Do you ever stop to appreciate that Christ came?  We talk about it a lot, as we should.  But stop for a moment and consider it.  He descended and ascended, all for the purpose of delivering grace to the world.  He did it to fill all things.  Don't brush by this... Christ loves you and wants to fill your life with grace, and so Christ descended from on high, and then ascended once more to show the power and depth of his love.  Wonder at this fact.  Sink into it.  It's amazing!

Prayer for Today:  God, help me be lost in wonder, love and praise at the miracle of your incarnation, a pure gift of love.

Ephesians 4:4-6

Ephesians 4:4-6 

English Standard Version 

  The world doesn't agree on much.  Our family cannot agree on whether mustard or ketchup is the superior condiment.  Other families are torn apart by the debate around the designated hitter.  Still others cannot decide if chili is a soup or not.  

  Think of all the various things that divide the world, from physical boundaries to political debates.  8 billion people and 12 billion opinions.

  So how powerful it is to have something that cuts across borders, across ideologies, across differences of opinion.  We have one common hope in Christ.  We have one faith, one baptism, one God.  The Christian church is a big tent, and Christ is over all and through all and in all.  In him, we are united.  In him, we have hope.  In him, we gather and are sent.

Prayer for Today: Lord, thank you for the one hope we have.  Give me your vision to see ways to find common ground with those around me.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Ephesians 4:1-3 

English Standard Version 

  What do you hear when Paul says he is a prisoner for the Lord?  He certainly spent plenty of time in jail due to his public ministry professing Jesus Christ as Lord, which neither the Jews nor the Romans were particularly fond of.  

  But Paul may well have meant more.  He is captive to the Lord's love and mercy -- it has captured his heart, and he wants to go nowhere else.  He willingly has bound himself to Jesus, no matter where the road may take him, because the sweetness of the Gospel has so overwhelmed him that nothing the world can offer would come close to duplicating the sense of eternal fulfillment that the Gospel offers him.

  Meanwhile, I think of the things that hold our attention captive.  We become prisoners to our phones and to the television and the narratives they are spinning, often rooted in fear or scarcity.  We're spellbound by so many mini-narratives that play out every day, be it relationship or community dramas that matter on an immediate timeframe, but so many of them have little ability to endure.  Like a sparkler on a July evening, they flare and burn out in a moment.  

  But we're moving so fast, we rarely stop and think about how we spend our time and where we give our attention.  Often time feels cheap, when in reality it's the most precious resource we have.  Paul is calling us to choose wisely how we invest ourselves, and he's reminding us that we're part of an eternal community.  Therefore, we ought to treat one another well, to think about the humility and gentleness that Jesus assumed when he walked this earth.  He didn't have to be humble and gentle -- he chose to, for a reason.  If we want to imitate him, and I struggle to think of reasons why we wouldn't want to imitate the single greatest, wisest, and most powerful person that has ever lived, then shouldn't we strive to be humble and gentle in the world as well?  If Christ treated his enemies with grace, then perhaps we should seek to do the same, no matter how hard it might be?

  Bearing with one another in love is no easy thing.  I think of God speaking to Moses in the wilderness, talking about the Israelites as a group of stiff-necked people.  But God loved them through the wilderness, and God loves us through the wildernesses we find ourselves in as well.  What a gift that is.  Maybe we can engage with the world on the basis of gratitude, spending enough time in God's Word that our own hearts become captive to the Lord, which then transforms the way we treat and serve one another.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Ephesians 3:20-21 

English Standard Version 

  How's your imagination?  I bet you can imagine some pretty marvelous things.  

  Paul's was probably pretty good.  After all, he'd seen amazing things.  He'd miraculously survived shipwrecks, seen his life transformed, watched healings and seen churches across the known world.  He could probably imagine some pretty wild things.

  So it takes a lot for him to say that God could do abundantly more than what we could ask or imagine.  

  But that's how incredible God is.  God's capabilities outstretch our imaginations.  So let us not think too small of God.  God holds the universe in God's hands, and God cares deeply for you.  God can do anything, and God chooses to liberate you from the clutches of sin and death and to build a Kingdom with you forever.

  Forever and ever. 

 Amen.

Prayer for Today:  God, be the glory in my life today, and do amazing things through me.  May I be in awe of you and rest securely in your love.

Ephesians 3:17-19

Ephesians 3:17-19 

English Standard Version 

  Do you ever go for a walk in the woods?  I'm always amazed at the ways trees root themselves.  Some of them seem to be barely hanging on to a rock or a cliff, roots going in every direction as they grab for safety.  Other trees have toppled over and you can see the enormity of the roots that allowed them to grow for decades, centuries even.  Trees roots are what anchor them through storms and give them water when the world is dry.  Roots keep them stable and allow them to grow.

  The same is true for us when we root in God's love.  If we let that love in, then the Holy Spirit does a work in us, and with all the saints in the church, we are transfixed by God, filled with the fullness of God, in awe of love that surpasses knowledge.  The love of God, that which reaches for us before we are even aware of it, is an amazing thing.  Why root ourselves in anything else?  

Prayer for Today:  Lord, help me to sink my roots deep into your love.  When I reach for something else, remind me that true nourishment is found in you.  May I know that your love never lets me go.

Ephesians 3:14-16

Ephesians 3:14-16 

English Standard Version

  Remember watching Superman and marveling at his extraordinary capabilities to solve problems through strength?  Did you wish for the same thing?  Imagine the good we could do with his kind of strength!

  Here, Paul isn't praying for outer strength.   Paul is praying for something quieter but even more extraordinary.  Paul is praying that the riches of God's glory give you inner strength -- strength we often don't know we have, strength to endure the struggles that we face on a daily basis, strength that comes from the Holy Spirit working through a community of believers.  May God grant each of us this strength, that we may persevere for the glory of God in the world, serving God and serving one another, faithfully enduring to the end.

Prayer for Today:  God, fill me with the strength to hope, the strength to serve, the strength to continue to believe.  Fill us with the power of your Spirit, that we may continue to let your light shine through us.

Ephesians 3:7–13

Ephesians 3:7-13 

English Standard Version 

  One of the things I deeply admire about Paul is his humility -- it is genuine and it is grounding.  He remembers who he was, and what God has done for him.  He went from a weapon pointed at the heart of the Christian church to an advocate for the unsearchable riches of Christ, and he recognizes that while it doesn't make sense to him, it is the wisdom of the God who created all things.  

  Paul reminds us that we often don't understand how God is at work.  It can be a mystery to see God's hand in things at times, but Paul reminds us that we don't have to grasp it all.  We can't wrap our minds around God, but the same God that created all things has granted you access through Christ.  So let us also not lose heart but continue to trust in God.

Prayer for Today:  Lord, let your grace shape our hearts, that we might proclaim your love in word and deed.

Ephesians 3:1–6

Ephesians 3:1-6 

English Standard Version 

  Do you ever read or watch mysteries?  What's remarkable is that the author leaves clues throughout the story, but the detective is the only one who assembles the clues into a narrative to solve the puzzle.  At the end, they tell everyone the solution, and then everyone looks back and can see clearly what was hidden throughout the story.  It's a mystery to everyone, and then all becomes clear. 

  In the same way, the Gospel is a mystery revealed through the Holy Spirit for the world to grasp.  It was obscure to many, but God used people like Paul to spread the Good News that the Gospel is for all.  The Gentiles are made fellow heirs through the work of Christ on the cross.  

  We have the fortune of standing and looking back and seeing more of the story. May we take advantage of the opportunity to view more of the story, trusting in the same God who will lead us forward into the greater mystery.

Prayer for today:  God of mystery, thank you for using Scripture to open our eyes to the wonders of your love.  Help us see the world through your eyes and to love the same way that you love.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Ephesians 2:19-22 

English Standard Version 

  Have you seen a picture of a castell?  Those are the human towers built in Catalonia at festivals.  They can be up to 10 stories high, which seems a little terrifying if you're up on the top and someone six layers down sneezes.  In such a structure, you are likely very, very aware of how dependent we are upon one another.  

  The church is no different.  We have a better cornerstone, for that is Christ himself, upon whom the whole structure rests.  The Holy Spirit is at work, building a dwelling place for God, made up of your fellow citizens and saints and the members of the household of God.  What an amazing reality -- God is building us into a house, and we are united with believers in every time and place.  We're not in this on our own -- we have an amazing support system, and unlike human towers and structures that depend on human strength and are therefore liable to topple over, this one is built on God and is therefore stable.  We can trust it.

  Which means we can rest.  Everything doesn't depend on you.  You don't have to be perfect.  Christ is.  We are flawed, but God is at work in each of us, in all of us, and building something beautiful.  

Prayer for Today: Lord, thank you for building me into something amazing.  Give me the wisdom to look out for my fellow believers today.

Ephesians 2:17-18

Ephesians 2:17-18 

English Standard Version 

  I like to be comfortable.  I like to go to places I know, and I try and avoid places with conflict.  It's no fun.

  What always amazes me about the ministry of Jesus is that he didn't just go to the people who were near to God.  He went to the people that were far off. He didn't mind to travel, even though it meant he had to walk all over the place.  He was compelled to reach people far from God, who had no idea what God was up to or why God was in the neighborhood.  Such is the love of God.  The far off sheep is just as precious as the one near the shepherd.  All are given access to God.  

Prayer for Today:  Lord, thank you for access to God through your amazing love.  Remind me that I am never too far gone for your love, and open the eyes of my heart to see others in the world through this same lens.

Ephesians 2:14-16

Ephesians 2:14-16 

English Standard Version 

  I remember when my mom took me to the George Patton museum decades ago, and there was a piece of the Berlin wall there.  It's hard for me to grasp what it would have been like, suddenly divided from the other part of town, isolated in a strange way by a concrete barrier.  

  The Jews and Gentiles were divided, but Christ came to tear all division down.  He came to make peace, reconciling us to one another and to God.  I talk about this a lot, but we so often forget that the cross has a vertical and horizontal component.  In the American church, we've isolated the work of Christ to the vertical piece, where we are reconciled to God.  This is obviously critically important, but we cannot miss the horizontal piece, where Christ is seeking to make peace between divided communities.  We are all on equal footing before God, all of us sinners and justified through the grace of God.  None is better than another. 

  It should change the way we look at the world.  Like Pharaoh, it's easy for me to harden my heart towards people or groups I disagree with.  They clearly need to get with the program, right?  Right?  

  But we are all sinners, dependent upon the mighty work that Christ did on the cross.  Gratitude should define us, and lead us into places of reconciliation.  

Prayer for Today:  Jesus, thank you for tearing down the division between me and you.  Help me to be an instrument of peace in my community, reconciling one with another through my words and deeds.

Ephesians 2:11-13

Ephesians 2:11-13 

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever been really, really thirsty?  That first drink is so refreshing.  Similarly, the first bite of food when we're really hungry tastes fantastic.  It's like the arrival section in an airport -- people are overjoyed to see loved ones from whom they have been separated.  The distance makes us grow fonder.

  Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and reminding them that they were hopeless before Christ.  They were isolated from God, like sheep who had gone astray, but God came searching for them and brought them near.  At great cost, as well -- Paul reminds them that it was through the blood of Christ that they have been bought.  

  This is Good News -- and a reminder to us all.  The Gentiles were hopeless, but God sought them out and created hope.  When we are hopeless, all is not lost.  God is at work in us, too.  There are no causes too lost for God.

Prayer for Today:  Lord, thank you for seeking me out through the Gospel, at any price.  Remind me that there is always hope in you, no matter how dark the night may seem.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Ephesians 2:8-10 

English Standard Version 

  I'm sure you've seen a cartoon somewhere with a baby bear growling at an imposing enemy, with the result being that the enemy turns and runs, but then the camera zooms out and we see the baby bear's mother looming behind it, and the baby bear realizes that the enemy fled out of fear of the mother, not the baby bear's growl.  For a moment, the baby thought it was terrifying, only to realize the real source of strength later.

  That's how I feel when I read this passage, and I give thanks that it doesn't depend on me.  I get things wrong.  In a world where we are often measured according to our output, all of us are under endless amounts of pressure to deliver.  

  Thanks be to God that the Gospel works differently.  Here, we are saved through grace, a free gift of God.  We don't boast in ourselves, but rather we savor the grace of God.  

  Of course -- it's not meant to be a dead-end street.  We are God's workmanship, and we're saved for good works. There is a reason we are saved -- we should walk in the way of grace in the world.  God saves us to be part of Christ's church, and that community of believers is sent into the world to love with the same ferocity with which we are loved.  

How to Pray:  Lord, thank you for the free gift of grace that saves.  Help me to walk in the light of grace as I move through the world today.