Boldness and Access with Confidence

Reading:  Ephesians 3:7-13
    
    Paul views his apostleship as a special grace from God, especially because he is unworthy of the role.  “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ”(Eph 3:7-8).  Rather than viewing his work as a drudgery (or as a risk to his personal safety), he sees it as a tremendous honor.  This is especially true because Paul feels he is “the very least of all the saints.”  Yet God has empowered Paul to “bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God”(Eph 3:9) by bringing Gentiles home to God.  The goal is that through his work—through this united body of believers—“through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”(Eph 3:10).  God’s work declares his wisdom to all people and spiritual authorities.

    Now in Jesus “we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him”(Eph 3:12).  We know that God’s eternal plan includes us.  We know that our connection to God through Jesus declares God’s great wisdom.  We know that God has granted us “access” to him through Jesus.  So now we can approach God, knowing that he will hear and answer us.  We can call him Father.  We can boldly affirm that his promises are for us.  We can make requests of him and cast our cares on him.  We can enter the throne room of God.  Our faith tells us we belong.

    Christians struggle with insecurity.  God’s promises and assurances seem to better fit people who are better than we are—the Abrahams and Daniels and Davids of the Bible.  Do we belong?  Paul teaches us to zoom out.  We are the beneficiaries of an eternal plan and desire of God.  Why would God do so much for us and then exclude us?  Why would he bless us, then refuse to hear us?  We can be bold and confident, certain that he loves and accepts us.

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One Thing to Think About: Do I feel bold and confident about approaching God?

One Thing to Pray For:  The assurance God wants me to feel
 

The Mystery

Reading:  Ephesians 3:1-6
    
    To Paul’s great surprise, God has given him a special mission to the Gentiles.  “assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly”(Eph 3:2-3).  God has revealed his “mystery” to Paul.  The mystery is not something difficult to understand, but something which was unknown to man.  God’s will “was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”(Eph 3:5).  As faithful as the prophets of old were, as devout as the great heroes of faith were, they did not know what we now know.  To them it was a mystery.  

    Yet this mystery has now been revealed.  “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ”(Eph 3:4).  Because Paul has received revelation from God, he sees things that others simply could not.  This makes his writings invaluable.  So what is the specific content of the mystery he keeps referring to?  “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel”(Eph 3:6).  God’s previously veiled plan to bring Jews and Gentiles together in one body in the Messiah has now been revealed.  God has always hoped to unite all people in one, abolishing the differences of nation, class, and gender.  God has always wanted to open the kingdom to all.  Yet what was once shrouded in mystery is now plainly seen.

    Part of God’s genius is that his thoughts are unknowable (and unguessable!) until he reveals them.  Yet when revealed, they are consistently beautiful and wonderful, full of goodwill and unexpected blessing.  Believers now can rejoice in the parts of God’s plan that he has shown us through men like Paul.  We can also anticipate with fervent hope the revelations of the final stages of God’s work which are still yet to come.

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One Thing to Think About: What wonderful things does God still have planned for his people?

One Thing to Pray For:  Gratitude for God’s acceptance of all people who believe in his Son
 

Remember Your Roots

Reading:  Ephesians 2:11-22
    
    It is hard to appreciate where we are if we don’t remember where we’ve come from.  “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”(Eph 2:11, 12).  Prior to their conversion, these Gentile believers were hapless and hopeless.  They had no share in the Messiah, the people of God, or the promises to Abraham.  They had their gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and the like—but they were gods you didn’t want to cross, not gods you had legitimate hope in.  The Gentiles were on the outside looking in.  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”(Eph 2:13).  The death of Jesus signals a glorious bridging of the gap, so that a distant people are ushered into the people of God.

    The cross unites us (Eph 2:14), removes the “dividing wall of hostility”(Eph 2:15) of the Law of Moses, and ultimately “(reconciles) us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility”(Eph 2:16).  Now there is peace between Jew and non-Jew.  Now there is peace between God and all believers.  Now all people can have access to the Father through the Spirit (Eph 2:18).  Yet appreciating these blessing hinges on a memory of where we started:  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”(Eph 2:19).  Now we are part of the holy temple God is building, in which the Spirit dwells.  

    Paul wants believers to remember their roots—not their physical origins, but their spiritual lostness outside of the cross.  Only when we have experienced exclusion do we appreciate belonging; only when we have been hopeless do we appreciate optimism; only when we have been lost do we appreciate being found.  Our actions have excluded us from the blessings God offers, yet he has put away our sins at his own expense at the cross.  Remembrance does not mean merely wallowing in our old sins, but maintaining the humility that acknowledges what we truly deserve.  Remember your roots—your spiritual rags-to-riches story—and give glory to God.

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One Thing to Think About: What do I remember about my past that leads me to glorify God?

One Thing to Pray For:  A healthy memory
 

But God

Reading:  Ephesians 2:1-10
    
    Paul has been discussing God’s great power in raising Jesus from the dead and exalting him (Eph 1:20) and now turns to how he has also raised and exalted us.  “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind”(Eph 2:1-3).  Paul describes our tragic state.  We sinned, but our sins began to take over and define our lives.  We lived in them, served them, and were entrapped by them.  They began to characterize us.  They killed us.  

    So what changed?  Did we simply decide to do better?  “But God”(Eph 2:4).  God changed.  God initiated something new.  God acted to rescue us.  “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”(Eph 2:4-6).  God was prompted by his love and mercy (certainly not our virtue) to apply his power to us.  Just as he made Jesus alive in the grave, so he made us alive with him.  Just as he exalted Jesus, so he has exalted us.  God is the hero of the story.  This is why he insists that “by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”(Eph 2:8-9).  Our salvation is not our doing; without God, we would still be desperate and dead.

    God certainly expects his people to obey him and do what he commands; he has redeemed us “for good works”(Eph 2:10).  Yet all the good works and all the obedience in the world cannot redeem us from our sins.  Without God’s mercy, without his intervention, without his sacrifice, we would still be lost and hopeless.  God is the hero of the story.  Salvation is always his doing.

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One Thing to Think About: Am I ever tempted to boast in my own works?

One Thing to Pray For:  Gratitude to God for saving me from my sins and myself 
 

The Eyes of Your Heart

Reading:  Ephesians 1:15-23
    
    Paul loves to pray for Christians and churches in other places—and especially loves to tell them about it.  “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers”(Eph 1:16).  When others come to faith in Jesus and begin to live differently, God is responsible, so Paul is thankful to God.  He also prays for their continued spiritual growth:  “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him”(Eph 1:17-18).  What young believers need may not simply be more knowledge about God, but knowledge of him as they begin to deepen a relationship with him.  The difference there is immense; it is the difference between knowing facts about a person’s life and actually meeting them.

     The knowledge they need involves “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe”(Eph 1:18-19).  Hearts have eyes!  Paul wants their eyes to be opened to the richness of the blessings they have received.  Note that there is no new ground or new revelation here—they already know their hope, what a blessing the saints can be, and how great God’s power is.  Paul wants for them to see this with their hearts, processing emotionally what they know intellectually.  There is a depth and power to what God has done for us that must not just be recited, but felt.  All of this is revealed by the glorious exaltation of Jesus (Eph 1:20), which points toward his imminent complete dominion (Eph 1:21), now foreshadowed by his lordship over the church (Eph 1:22-23).  They know this, but Paul wants them to truly know it.

    Christianity is a religion that must be learned; there are facts to master and accept.  Yet this not usually where we find the “aha!” moments that capture our hearts.  Growth and maturity involve thinking deeply on the mystery of God’s grace, the wonder of what is to come, and the scope of God’s power and love.  It must not just be recited, but felt.

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One Thing to Think About: Is there a difference between knowing something and understanding it?

One Thing to Pray For:  A deeper appreciation for the value of my fellow believers