Building Up

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BUILDING UP

Eph 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."  9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Having looked into the gifts to the church, we should now examine why Christ gives the church the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We should note they are not one of these gifts for their own enjoyment or to have a special station in life, or within the body of Christ. They have been given to the church for the church, to be servants to and for the church. Their main function is to prepare God’s people for works of service. We do think it is interesting the Greek word translated as service is diakonia, the direct meaning is ministering and all throughout the New Testament it is translated as ministry, ministration, or minister. We can see that the office of deacon is within this Greek word. However, diakonia also is used of those who by the command of God proclaim and promote religion among men, which would be pretty good works of service. This word is also used as the ministration of service of apostles, prophets, evangelists’ elders, etc. Diakonia is also used to mean those who render to others the offices of Christian affection. The idea is that this is not associated with what we would think of as “Good works”, or “Good deeds”. The reason for these functions of works of service is so the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. In other words, any work of service, any ministry that we are all prepared to do, would have nothing to do with us, or holding a special title in the church. It has nothing to do with watching over the building or the church finances or serving on some committee or board. It is all about building up the body of Christ. We are being prepared to build up the body of Christ. This can only be accomplished through interaction with others, building them up, and ensuring they are increasing in their faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are being prepared to build each other up so that we become mature believers. This leads us to understand the Greek word translated here as mature, teleios, carries this direct meaning of complete, as in growth, mental and moral character. This Greek word is translated throughout the scriptures as perfect. This would imply to us that we are being prepared to assist our fellow believers in their growth of knowledge and of their moral character, building them up. We cannot do this if we are boasting about ourselves, but rather becoming servants looking to the benefit of others. We are always in the process of being prepared, but at the same time, we should also be in the process of building up the body of Christ.

 

Shepherds and Instructors

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

SHEPHERDS AND INSTRUCTORS

Eph 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." 9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Now it is time to look into the gifts to the church of pastor and teacher. First, we should consider whether the pastor and teacher are the same person. The way the language in Greek makes it look like they are the same person. After each gift between apostles and prophets and evangelists there is this word, de, which is basically a simple, and, but the word, Kia, is between pastors and teachers. Kia is more than an and, as it connects two words or numbers. This word would be used if we said “Rich and the others, connecting Rich with the others, as they are all together. Therefore, we think that the shepherd and the instructor are the same gifts, to an individual. This seems not to be the case in the modern church as we see many instructors who are not shepherds. We wonder if all the shepherds are instructors, although we think they should be. The Shepherds should be leading their flock, their congregation in the ways of the Lord, leading them to the green pasture, which is the word of God, and the still waters, the peace of Christ, who is the living water. This happens both through preaching the word and teaching the word along with the task of protecting them from the wolves that would decimate the flock. Jesus was the Good Shepherd and as we know, He laid down his life for his flock. The pastors and teachers may not be called to lay down their lives, but in some sense because of the responsibility given to them, it should be their life’s work to prepare God’s people for works of service, as it is also the purpose of the apostles, prophets, and evangelists. But it is the pastors and teachers who are with the congregation daily. The shepherd and instructor must prepare God’s people for works of service and this can only be done through daily leading. Let us pray these people who God has given to the church stand strong and serve the church as God intended them. They serve on the front lines against the enemy, those wolves that come in sheep’s clothing. Every one of them leads us and instructs us in the way we should go. We will examine in more detail about preparing God’s people and why that is needed, but for now let us thank God for all these gifts He has given the church, His people. 

Bringing Good Tidings

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BRINGING GOOD TIDINGS

Eph 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."  9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Having looked at apostles and prophets, we turn our attention to the evangelists. We also should note these three, which we did not consider before are plural. We know there was more than one apostle in the time of Christ and more the one prophet before the time of Christ, and thus we believe there are still more than one apostle and prophet in the church today. There is no question we have witnessed some evangelists in our lifetime, some very famous. The Greek word euaggelistes has the direct meaning of a preacher of the gospel or could be seen as a bringer of good tidings, which the only good tidings is the gospel. Certainly, we can see the English word evangelists in this Greek word and it is clear of the meaning of preaching the gospel. This is quite different the preaching weakly from the word of God, for there are many truths we need to see that apply to our walk with the Lord. Being an evangelist is also not traveling from church to church for the sake of having a revival or just getting opportunities to preach the same message to a different congregation. Although we have witnessed some of these individuals who called themselves an evangelist, which is an incorrect nomenclature, as they are just traveling preachers of the word of God. This is not to say they are wrong in what they do, or their message is not worthy, it is just they are not an evangelist unless they bring the good news of salvation or redemption through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. For the most part, all the members of any local church where the word of God is preached have already accepted Jesus Christ and thus are not in need of the evangelist. However, the unsaved, the non-believers that fill the earth are in desperate need of the evangelists for they bring good tidings, the gospel to a dying and condemned people. In fact, they are simply dead men walking and need the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, so they can be transformed from dead to alive, condemned to freedom. This is the sole task of the evangelists, and the world is in dire need of them. Of course, they do not absolve us from being a witness for Christ, testifying to what Christ has done for and in our lives. We can share what we have experienced and not be evangelizing the world. The evangelist simply proclaims the gospel, and it is the Holy Spirit who convicts men of their sins, but there is no conviction unless they hear the message of Jesus Christ. Even if we share what we call Roman’s road with an unsaved acquaintance, we would not consider ourselves an evangelist, but merely a witness. Nevertheless, God has called men to the task and empowered them to be evangelists and we praise His name for his mighty work among His creation, building His church that the gates of hell will not prevail against.  

The Inspired Prophet

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE INSPIRED PROPHET

Eph 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."  9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Now we have come to another one of the gifts to the church given by Christ. Having looked into the gift of apostle, we now examine this gift of prophet. First, we need to remember that Christ gave these gifts to the church for the benefit of the church, His body, who believe. We also should note that Paul is informing the new believers who are Gentiles living in Ephesus that Christ has given this gift of a prophet to the New Testament church. We know of all the Old Testament prophets who spoke for God to Israel. However, we should understand He gave some to be prophets and thus we should be aware there are those who he gave to be prophets among us. Second, we should examine the Greek word profeetees. The most direct meaning is to be a spokesman for God, one through whom God speaks. It is used in Greek writings as an interpreter of oracles, a foreteller, soothsayer, or seer. However, within the New Testament this word is used as one who is moved by the Spirit of God and hence his organ or spokesman, solemnly declares to men what he has received by inspiration. It can also be used universally as a man filled with the Spirit of God, who by God’s authority and command in words of weight pleads the case of God and urges the salvation of men. That almost sounds like evangelism, but that gift is entirely different. We needed to examine this word, prophet to the fullest because we have the Spirit of God dwelling within all of us believers, and so we would think that God is still in the business of inspiring people to speak his truth to the church. This may not be so much as telling people what God is going to do, yet in fact, if the word of God is preached or interpreted to the fullest, it will include that which God is going to do, so in a sense, a foreteller. Still, we all have that knowledge at our fingertips if we but read the complete word of God. Therefore, we think the most meaningful use of this gift of prophet to the church is when someone is inspired by the Spirit to speak the words of God to His people. This might well show up in a well-planned and throughout sermon when the speaker does not remember the words spoken because those words were not included in this well-planned sermon. Some of the preachers’ words came straight through the inspiration of the Spirit for the benefit of the church. This is much different than the gifts of tongues, interpretation, and prophecy given to the whole church. Yet, we cannot help but think that there are real prophets in the church today. All that is needed is for someone to listen for the inspiration of the Spirit and be willing to speak forth that which they were inspired. Perhaps, with so much disinformation that has been spread among the church about these gifts, we are afraid to be inspired and thus we have closed ourselves from hearing from the Spirit and listen only to the words of men. Let us be open to being an inspired prophet of God. 

The Apostle

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE APOSTLE

Eph 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."  9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Christ is the same heavenly divine being who descended to earth and thus ascended back into heaven. It is interesting that this descended to the lower earthy region indicates that in fact earth of beyond heaven and the Christ not only descended to this lower earthly region, but he lowered himself, humbled himself to be taken to the cross. This is the same Jesus who was there are creation, that was the one that all things were made through and without him nothing would have been made, including us. Jesus is more our lord and Savior, He is the divine creator of all things, and yet, he lowered himself to the very form of man. Christ is the divine being part of the triune Godhead. A mystery, yet no mystery to those He has revealed himself to, as we accept through faith which God himself gave us so we could believe. This is the Jesus who gave the gifts to the church for the benefit of the church, the members of his body. We need to examine these gifts that have been revealed to us. First, we should take a closer look at the gift of apostles that Jesus gave to the church. The Greek word apostolos, which is usually translated as apostle simply means a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ. In the Gospel of John Jesus uses this word to indicate a messenger. It is fairly common for the word apostle to be applied to the twelve chosen by Jesus, with Paul being added as one chosen by Jesus. It is also fairly common to think they were the only apostles and that gift to the church is no longer available. However, we also think that because Jesus is eternal, his gifts should not end until the end of time, when we all will stand in His presence in eternity. We think there are apostles in the church today, a person who is a delegate of Christ, someone who is an ambassador of the Gospel, a messenger of the Gospel. That could define every believer for that is what we all have been called to be. Are we not supposed to represent our Lord to the world? Are we not supposed to speak for our Sovereign as His ambassador to this foreign land. If we are citizens of the kingdom of God and sent to the kingdom of this earth to speak for Jesus, we do not speak of our own or from our own authority, but we speak with the authority of our Lord, as His ambassador to this world. Now, it is also clear there can be certain people who have been called gifted and empowered to be specifically an apostle for the benefit of the whole church. Someone send with orders from on high to lift the church up, being a messenger from God, and these individuals will be different then the pastor or teacher given to the church, which we need to examine later. For now, let us be prepared to either be ready to serve the church as His apostle or be ready to greet an apostle when they show up in the church. 

A Measure of Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

A MEASURE OF GRACE

Eph 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." 9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

NIV

Once again, there are a lot of theological points to explore and see how this plays out in our lives. First, we should consider this grace that has been given as Christ apportioned it. It would be clearer if we knew what this grace that has been given by Christ. If we understand the Greek word Charis correctly from the lexicon, we see how it can be used as the divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. Therefore, we would consider that Jesus has apportioned or rather measured out, which the Greek word metron means, through the power of the Spirit His divine influence upon our hearts. Each one of us has this divine influence as it is measured out by Jesus. This might imply that this grace is not unlimited but that we simply receive a measure of it. We wonder if that is because of our being in this fleshly body and therefore we would not be able to handle the full measure of God’s grace and that it would overwhelm us beyond our comprehension or grasp. Nevertheless, Christ has given the church gifts, which are a vehicle of this grace. We will see these gifts to the church and look at them one by one, and their divine purpose, but for now let us be content that we have received a measure of grace, a measure of his divine influence upon our hearts so that we can live a life worthy our calling. 

Keep the Unity

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

KEEP THE UNITY

Eph 4:1-6

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

NIV

Now that we are completely humble and gentle. Being patient, bearing with one another in love, or at least that is how we are supposed to be, we now see there is something else we have been urged to do. We are to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. It is interesting the Greek word spoudazoo has this direct meaning to either make haste, to endeavor, to exert oneself. Therefore, we are to make every effort, that means we are to put forth, exert ourselves, be pro-active to keep the unity of the Spirit. We wonder why we are to keep the unity of the Spirit. Is Paul saying that we already have this unity of the Spirit or is he making a point that we should make every effort to first attain this unity and then do everything in our power to keep it? Nevertheless, the question is whether we are making every effort and if we are, what does that look like? When we consider this keeping of the unity of the Spirit is done through the bond of peace, we also note that we should have a bond with all the saints. This bond is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We think somehow, we might have lost this bond because of the continual expansion in the number of denominations. That seems more like there is no bond with all the saints because we cannot agree on many secondary and tertiary points, yet if we all agree that faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, we should be in unity. Then we consider how that unity in the Spirit through the bond of peace might look like in a local church. Even if there are various clichés in the church, the unity is based on our faith in Jesus. It should not matter if there are factions or clichés in the church, but they do help create hurt feelings us those left out of one of them. We know we all have different personalities and there are some people that are simply drawn together by their similarities, such as spinsters, widows, or divorcees (single older women), people with small children, men with the same interests, etc. then there are people who are like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard, referred to as irregular people in our lives. With all those divisive areas in the local church, does that interfere with having a bond of peace among us all? Are we all making every effort to keep this unity of the Spirit through this bond of peace? If there is one among us that is not making every effort, but instead is keeping from themselves from any effort, what does that do to the bond of peace in the local church? What we do know is if there is to be this bond of peace, it rests on us to make effort to keep this unity of the Spirit and be bonding through peace. 

Living Worthy of Our Calling

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

 LIVING WORTHY OF OUR CALLING

Eph 4:1-6

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

NIV

Being in bondage for the Lord is not a bad thing, as Paul admits he is a prisoner for the Lord. This does not mean that Jesus has chained him up and put him in a cell as a true prisoner of the state would be. However, when we fully commit ourselves to Christ and allow him the complete unconditional control of our lives, we are in fact in the form of a bondservant, a prisoner for the Lord. Again, we are free to roam through life going and doing what we have been called to go and do. This is the urge we are receiving to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. This calling or vocation, which is a more direct translation from the Greek, may not be what we consider our position in the body of Christ, although, that is a calling, such as we have been called to preach and teach, while others have been called to lead us in worship, and others called to serve the Lord in so many other wonderful ways. But this calling is that of being a believer in Jesus Christ. Being a Christian is a calling for our lives and we are to live our lives worthy of being a Christian. This is defined for us as being humble and gentle and patient with each other, bearing with one another in love. This makes us wonder if it is appropriate for us to use the term, “I” when we are expressing our works as a result of our calling in life, or the gift the Spirit has manifested in us. We think it would be more appropriate to always say the Lord has led me to do or empowered me to be able to do, or The Lord is doing this in my life, giving me this or that to do, or all that we do is because of the Lord’s power at work. In and of ourselves we have no talent, no ability to do anything even close to worthy. In fact, without the working of the Spirit in our lives, we cannot even live a life worthy of being called a Christian. Humility or being humble and patient must start in our hearts and minds regarding ourselves first before we can be humble and patient toward others. We cannot be humble toward others if we harbor any self-pride within ourselves. It is interesting in Greek it is expressed as being worthy of the vocation we are called with all lowliness and meekness and longsuffering forbearing one another in love. This lowliness, the Greek word, tapeinofrosunee, means to have a humble opinion of oneself; a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness; modesty, humility, and lowliness of mind. We will get to this, making every effort later, for we are impressed to remain focused on being humble, being humble-minded, and always giving the Lord all the credit and praise for everything in our lives, and all that we have been instructed to do. Perhaps then we might be living worthy of our calling. 

Living in the Fullness of His Power

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LIVING IN THE FULLNESS OF HIS POWER

Eph 3:20-21

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

NIV

Some people have a larger imagination than others as is evident in the CG graphics in many of the action movies made today. However, as far as us believers trying to imagine the fullness of God’s power that is at work within us, we are not able to imagine even close to large enough. We do wonder, however, whether we restrict God from using his power to work in us. We accept what God did in the past when we read the full account of his power at work throughout the Old Testament. We accept by faith according to the record of the gospels when God did send Christ to redeem us and that we have been redeemed and will someday be with God. But what about the here and now? Do we restrict his power working in us when we become selfish, self-centered, getting upset, or prideful, or have envy or jealousy, or gossip, or have some other sinful attitude or behavior? We think in order for God’s power to be fully at work within us, we must be looking for His working within us. We should be aware of the presence of God dwelling within us, and submit to His mighty power, then we will see something extraordinary happen both within the through us. The main point, or our main focus must be to bring Him glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. It would seem to us that the way that is most effective is to give God full access to working his power within us for He is able to do immeasurable more than all we can ask or imagine. It is interesting the Greek word translated as immeasurable is huperekperissou, which directly means superabundantly, beyond measure, exceedingly. When this is used in reference to the power of God working within us, we cannot even measure or imagine how much that is. However, it is still up to us to give God that full access and authority within ourselves for all that power to work in us. If we can quench the Spirit, we can quench the power of God, even if His power is far more than we imagine. Let us be in full partnership with our Lord and Savior and live in the fullness of all the mighty power of God. 

Filled to the Fullest

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FILLED TO THE FULLEST

Eph 3:14-19

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

NIV

What a second, did not Paul just say that we are rooted and established in love and that he prayed that together with all the saints we can grasp the width, length, height, and depth is the love of Christ, and now it seems he prays that we know this love that surpasses knowledge. How can we know this love, if it surpassed knowledge? Yet that is exactly what we can know, because the Spirit who dwells within us, leads us into all truth. We know and comprehend just how much Jesus loves us because we have the very word of God that gives us the details of the greatest expression of love that has ever been expressed. With all the power in heaven and on earth being God, Jesus willingly allowed his arrest, his so-called trial, and being seen by the very people he can to, declared him worthy of death, and handed him over to their oppressors to be beaten till his skin was nearly torn off his body, then nailed to that cross for public humiliation until suffocation came to the lungs, and death was imminent. Jesus did all that for us, and they did not take his life, he gave it because of his love. When we think about the suffering Jesus endured for us, we want to weep in our spirit, in our soul, but at the same time, we want to rejoice and be glad for through the body and blood of Jesus God has redeemed us and marked us with His seal showing us that we belong to Him and are due our inheritance in His kingdom. If only we could love as Jesus did, but then He is God and we are but a reflection of His glory, and as long as we are held captive in this flesh we can only love in the human sense, even though we see the fullness of love in Christ. This also brings us to being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Oh, to be filled with all the fullness of God may be more than we can completely comprehend. To be filled up with God is a powerful experience. There is nothing in this world that we could see or do that would even come anywhere close to the experience of being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. It makes us think that if we are being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, that we are completely full of all of God there is no room within us for our own fullness, which means we have nothing to boast about other than Christ. If we are truly filled with all the fullness of God then our lives are not about our accomplishments, our works, or our position in the body of Christ, but everything is about the love of God expressed toward us through Christ Jesus. God desires to dwell within us to the fullness of Himself and so we empty ourselves and are filled with God.

 

In Our Grasp

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

IN OUR GRASP

Eph 3:14-19

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

NIV

Having Christ dwell in our hearts through faith is wonderful because of the Father’s glorious riches that strengthened us with power through His Spirit in our inner being. But that is not all, although that should be more than we would ever need. We may also know that we are rooted and established in love. Of course, we try to live a life of love, but this love that we are rooted and established in is the love of God for us. It is because He loves us, our faith, and the power of the Spirit in our inner being is all from God. Therefore, this being rooted and established comes from the love of God and it is His love that generates power in our lives so together with all the saints we are able to grasp just how wide and high and long and deep is the love of Christ. On a personal note, I remember as a very small child my mother taught me, when she asked how much I loved her, to say, “I love you as high as the highest sky and wide as the widest sea and as deep as the deepest ocean is my love for thee”. As I recall this, I remember that at that time my mother went to church, but somewhere along her life with my father, if she did have any faith in Jesus, it disappeared or was not evident and as I grew, I never knew about the love of God for me, and what the love of Jesus for me took Him to the cross. Now, we can grasp all this love of God for us, because of the power of the Spirit dwelling within our inner being revealing, and leading us into all this truth. However, Christ’s love when it comes to width, length, height, and depth, there are no limits. We cannot measure how wide, how high, or how long and deep His love for us is. His love is wider than wide, higher than high and longer than long, and deeper than any depth and we understand in some sense, yet without the glorious riches of the Father out of which we are strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner being, we would not have any understanding, all this would be out of our grasp, but the fact is, all the love of Christ is in our grasp because of the Spirit working in us. 

Out of His Glorious Riches

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

OUT OF HIS GLORIOUS RICHES

Eph 3:14-19

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

NIV

Oh, how we want and need out of the glorious riches of God to strengthen us with power through his Spirit in our inner being. The first thing that is very important is the reason the Father is the one with the glorious riches, and it is out of or from His glorious riches, we have the Spirit who comes to strengthen us with power in our inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. How incredible this fact is, which shows us that we alone, in our own strength and power cannot have enough faith to have Christ dwell in our hearts. Our faith has to do with all the work of God. He is the one who started this great work in us and He is the one who is going to complete this work in us, bringing us to perfection on that day when we finally are fully redeemed, standing in His glorious presence. How can we ever think that our being a Christian, having faith in Jesus Christ, and knowing He is dwelling in our hearts is all about our strength and power? We cannot even have faith unless God gives us that measure of faith to believe. Although we are His creation and we have been made in his image, thus we can say that we are supposed to be image bearers of God, reflecting His glory to the world, it is not about how we can do this in our own strength and power. Everything in our lives is about our being strengthened by the administration through His Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts. Oh, we can act all spiritually, and get all puffed up about our good deeds, or any qualifications we might feel make us a good Christian, or what our position is in the body of Christ, but all we have is our weakness. It is in our weakness that He is strong, It is God who is doing all the work in us through the power of His Spirit. Let us strive to be humble knowing nothing is about our abilities or our strength and look to the strengthening power of the Spirit so that Christ may dwell in us and move in and through us to accomplish the purpose of His will in and through us. Oh, we need the strengthening of the Spirit out of the glorious riches of the Father. 

A New Name

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

A NEW NAME

Eph 3:14-19

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

NIV

There is some division among the scholars of old as to what Paul is referring to when it is says “For this reason”. Rather than entering the fray on trying to make that connection, we think the idea of kneeling before the Father is of far more importance. Of course, whether we physically kneel or kneel in our hearts before the Father may not be any different. There are times of prayer, when it would not be possible to go to our knees, if fact, any public type of prayer, such as church, or when praying for someone at a store or at work. Nevertheless, kneeling before the Father with our inner being, with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength would always be appropriate. Even when we have the freedom and confidence to approach God, we still should approach kneeling before Him in spirit and truth. We do not think our kneeling before the Father in prayer is not so much connected with how many fine Christianize words we can use, but how deep our heart is bent toward Him. It seems there are some whose eloquent words are not meant for God as much as they are meant to impress others with how spiritual they are, although their hearts may well be bent toward the Father. It is not the type or the number of words that matter, but it does matter that we kneel before the Father. It is through the Father that we all derive our name, Christian, because it was the Father who sent the Son as His plan to redeem us from the wages of sin, death. We are the family of God, as we join together as a family with all the saints that have gone before us, and those we now live with, and those that will come after us, because we are all the children of God, all brothers, and sisters, all receiving the same inheritance, all being built into the temple of God, as living stones. Whatever name we went by in our past matters not for that name was not associated with our new name as one adopted into the family of God. Now our name is Christian, a member of God’s family. We are so thankful that we have a new name that has been written down in glory, yes its mine, yes its mine, we have met the author of our story and he’s mine, oh yes He’s mine, and we go by His name. Just call us Christian. 

Approaching God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

APPROACHING GOD

Eph 3:7-13

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

NIV

Why would Paul say that the riches of Christ are unsearchable when he says that through God’s grace, he is to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery? It seems to us that Paul is explaining the unsearchable riches of Christ. Everything is about Christ Jesus, the whole plan of God for our redemption is centered on Jesus. All the manifold wisdom of God that is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms revolves around Jesus. Our whole lives should be focused entirely on Jesus, for in Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. What a privilege! What a Joy! To have the freedom to approach God is nearly incomprehensible when we think about the past, only Moses was able to speak to God face to face. Then throughout the rest of history, the Israelites were not able to approach God, except on the one day of the year, the day of atonement, then it was only one priest who could enter the presence of God, with fear and in trepidation. But because of Jesus, that veil was torn from top to bottom, and through Jesus, we can walk freely into the presence of God, we can approach Him with complete confidence. We are at peace with God or rather God is at peace with us, in fact, He has given us the right to call ourselves His children, His family. There is no barrier between us and God, for the Spirit dwells within us so that we could say what Jesus prayed that we would one, just as He and the Father are one. That could apply to all of us believers being one with each other as Jesus and the Father are one, being in complete unity. But it can also apply to us being one with Jesus as Jesus is one with the Father so then we would be one with the Father because we are in Christ. That is so totally awesome to think about being one with each other and one in Christ, which gives us complete confidence, with no fear, no anxiety, no trepidation, to walk boldly into the very presence of God and speak, in a sense, face to face with Him. Of course, we worship Him, even His name brings us to worship, however, He tells us we can walk with Him, and talk with Him, just as He did with Adam in the garden. This should bring us to a life of praise and thanksgiving and even though we either see or experience some amount of suffering, we should never come near to discouragement, for we are even told to be people of courage, in fact, great courage, for we are able to approach God.  

Servant of God's Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

SERVANT OF GOD’S GRACE

 

Eph 3:7-13

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

NIV

To become a minister of the gospel by the gift of God’s grace given to Paul through the effectual workings of his power is a great gift indeed. The Greek word translated as a servant here is diakonos, which is where we get the word deacon but can also be used as an attendant, or waiter, (at a table or in order menial duties). However, especially it is used for a Christian teacher and pastor, but technically, a deacon or deaconess. To be called into that kind of service and perform the tasks associated with it can only be done by the effectual workings of God’s grace. Paul demonstrates pure humility of this gift, the working of God’s power within him, as he ministers the gospel of Jesus Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. This should give us a clue as to how we should approach our lives as we fulfill our calling in life. Whatever gift we are to use as the Spirit manifests himself within us, that is the effectual working of God’s grace and power, we should administer that gift with pure humility. In doing so, in being humble, we would ensure that we would not boast in any way regarding what we do or are used for the kingdom of God and the common good of all believers. This is a difficult way to live, and in many ways goes against our natural instincts, which were taught to us throughout our lives. Boasting about ourselves is the way of the world, enumerating all our qualifications, our education, our past accomplishments, in essence, our resume. Even in some denominations, those who are licensed to minister must submit a resume for each of their activities, or essentially their accomplishments. But this should not be within the community of faith, Paul makes that clear in no uncertain terms. He is the less than the least. The Greek word is directly translated as far least. Again, this is how we are to see ourselves as we minister the gift of God manifested in us. There are so many far more able to administer the grace of God than we are, yet God has chosen to call us to that very task. Speaking personally, I have no skills, no talent, no formal education, or qualification to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ, but God has all the power, all the strength and it is right for me to depend wholly on the power of the Spirit to both lead and empower me to do that which I have been called. Therefore, I understand the need for humility for I have nothing to brag about in myself. It is interesting how I have witnessed far too many Christians that cannot help from boasting and bragging about their good works, just as the world does. It sounds judgmental but simply is an observation without condemnation. To be humble is to be Christlike, for He humbled Himself onto death on the cross for us. Let us throw aside any self-pride we might see in ourselves and boast in Christ Jesus alone, and simply be a servant of God’s Grace. 

Co-Heirs

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

CO-HEIRS

Eph 3:1-6

3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

NIV

It is a little strange that for thousands of years that God was the God of all creation dealing with man in general. Then at some time, God determined to call one man, Abraham, a gentile or just a general man, meaning Abraham was not Israel, but just a man of God’s making, like all men. But God decided to use Abraham to establish a people that would be known as God’s chosen people, Israel. God used Israel to reveal Himself fully so that man would once again know Him. But all that time, it was only Israel who God dwelt with, then came Moses, and all that followed in order that the Israelites would become that nation who lived in the place God gave them. However, it was all Israel, and the rest of mankind were thought of as gentiles, non-Israel. Paul is now telling us Gentiles that God decided when to reveal His Son to the world. It had been a mystery until Jesus came to earth in the form of man. But now through Jesus, both Israel and Gentile are one people in Christ. This truth was revealed by Jesus to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This applies to us, as we are now one people in Christ. It does not matter our racial background or our nationality, if we are in Christ, if someone accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior then they are one with us as all who believe have the right to be called children of God. Yet, it does puzzle us why there are so many divisions in the body of Christ. We have divided ourselves into various denominations because we could not agree on some interpretation of some portion of the scriptures. We see the truth of God differently and thus we have separated ourselves into many people. We have left the brother and sister concept far behind, with some even having a certain level of contempt for those who think or believe differently. Should not all believers be heirs together, as Paul tells the Ephesians they are heirs together with Israel? Do not all of us who believe belong to one body, with Jesus being the head? Is debate approved by God? It is also interesting that over the years, within the various churches we have attended that we have found even in the local church, we have witnessed divisions among the people. We have seen jealousy, envy, pride, boasting, gossip, and even little cliques form, holding others at bay from being in their little group. How does all that reflect being one body with Jesus being the head? We understand the concept of different personalities and how different we can be as people, but when we become a child of God, should not any of our differences blend so that we all are being built together into the holy temple of God, one in Christ, co-heirs?

Being Built

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BEING BUILT

Eph 2:14-22

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

NIV

Now we can get to the” Consequently” since we have been drawn from afar and brought near by the blood of Jesus, and thus through the cross we have been reconciled to God and are at peace with Him. Consequently, we are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. When we consider being a foreigner and an alien we think about how that applies in our world. Because we have citizenship here in the United States of America, we do not have citizenship in another country and do not know their language, at least for the most part. Once we held citizenship in this world and were an alien to God. Knowing what we do now, we cannot understand why anyone would what to be a citizen in the kingdom of Satan, and a foreigner to the kingdom of God. Although is it some people can hold dual citizenship in two countries, it is impossible for us to be both a citizen of this world and a citizen in the kingdom of God. But we were aliens but as such we died, losing our citizenship in the world and we were born again accepting our citizenship in the kingdom of God. Of course, now we understand the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, and we comprehend that Jesus is the cornerstone for the whole of the foundation, everything is built upon Jesus. Just as the temple was built square based on the cornerstone, Jesus, because we are the temple of the living God, and our lives are built on Jesus, our cornerstone, we are all squared away, to use an old army term. Our lives are all in order, everything in its place because our lives are built on Jesus. This takes us right back to living by faith in Jesus or trying to live by some commandments and regulations that Jesus abolished with his flesh. However, as the temple of God, having been and is still being built together with others, into a dwelling for the Spirit of God, we will see how we fit into this temple. We are living stones being placed in the temple by the Spirit of God just the way he wants us. Some would argue that as the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should refrain from consuming certain things, mainly smoking and drinking wine and even some coffee, thus caring for the temple or our bodies. Some would argue that by abiding by certain rules and regulations we are caring for the body of Christ. Yet, no matter how well we think we are caring for our bodies, they are corruptible, mortal, and perishable. However, our spirits are not, which is who we really are. Therefore, we think it would be far better to be concerned about our spiritual body which is truly the temple of the spirit. How well is our spirit? What is the health of our Spirit as we are being built into the temple of God? We know that it is God who started this work in us, this beginning, this construction of his temple, and it is God who will complete this work, this construction of us into a temple fit for a King. Our responsibility is to allow him to break us, melt us, mold us into His temple, and fill us to the brim with His Spirit. All the work is God’s as we are being built. 

He is Our Peace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

HE IS OUR PEACE

Eph 2:14-22

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

NIV

Once again, we have a passage that is chock-full of theology that we may have to take in piecemeal. We want to jump right into the “consequently” but there are some other points we need to look at first. Number one is the fact that Jesus is our peace. Although Paul was making the point that Jesus made the two, Jews and Gentiles, one people in Christ, we are also at peace with God. There once was a barrier between God and his people, the curtain that separated the holy of holies in both the tabernacle and then the temple, from the rest of the temple. The place God dwelt with his people could not be entered, except on the one day of atonement, and then only one man, the priest could enter. Through Jesus, that barrier was torn in two, and we now have full access to God. We were once two, it was God and us, but now through Jesus, we are one with God. This peace with God, being one with Him, could never have been accomplished by obeying the law with its commandments and regulations. This is why Jesus abolished the law with his flesh on the cross. It is surprising how some believers want to put themselves under certain laws, commandments, and regulations in order to feel like they are obeying God. But having peace with God, being at peace because of being in Christ means our obedience is faithfulness, which is not works, but faith. We understand we were not saved by works, but by faith in Jesus, the grace of God. We were not saved from the commandments and regulations in order to put ourselves back in bondage. Our peace with God is solely through faith in Jesus and if in his flesh abolished all of those commandments and regulations, then they are abolished. How then can we reinstate them? Our access to the Father is not through any observance of the law, in any fashion, but it is through Jesus who sent the Spirit. If we are living in the Spirit then we are one with God, however, there is a sense that we are also to walk by the Spirit. That is we are to live under the influence of the Spirit, living in a manner that pleases God. Some would think works are a result of our love for God, but that question about what work God requires, the work that he prepared in advance for us to do, is to believe in the one he sent. Our life in Christ is about living with faith and being faithful in our believing in Jesus which truly brings us into being at peace with God, for He is our peace. 

From Far to Near

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FROM FAR TO NEAR

Eph 2:11-13

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

NIV

We too were born as a Gentile, however, in the post modern times we are not as separated by circumcision as the Ephesians were from the Jews. Nevertheless, we were once separate from God, and excluded from citizenship in Israel, or maybe we could say separated from citizenship in the kingdom of God. It does not matter when we came to the knowledge of our salvation, we all were sinners who were objects of wrath. Some of us believers may have been raised in a believing household, others may have lived years without believing, but came to that knowledge later in life. But the simple truth is we were all born separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel. We were all foreigners to the covenants of the promise, and we were all without hope and without God in the world. What a horrible way to be, without Christ and without hope. However, at some point in our lives, we had to make that choice for ourselves. We were not born saved, by as a sinner, in need of knowing Jesus personally. Praise God we have been redeemed. We did come to that knowledge of knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior and we are not longer far away from God but have the Spirit dwelling within us. We have been drawn near to God through the blood of Jesus. How else could our sins be forgiven if it is not through the blood of Jesus. If Jesus had not gone to the cross, and shed his blood for us, we would never be able to have any hope at all and would still be far away from God, a foreigner to the kingdom of God. But He did shed his blood for the remission of our sins, and we are a forgiven people who are in Christ and now we have abdicated our citizenship in this world and have become a citizen of the kingdom of God. Unlike some people who might hold dual citizenship in two countries, we cannot have any dual citizenship for we either love the one and despise the other, we cannot serve two masters. Therefore, we love the kingdom of God, and we despise the kingdom of this world. We either live with hope, or live hopelessly, and we have decided to live with hope, to expect to be resurrected and to see our Lord. We praise God that we are no longer far, but we are now near. 

Living Good

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LIVING GOOD

Eph 2:1-10

2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

NIV

We have come to the last truth in this passage, and it has been a point of debate since I can remember when Christ came into my life. The controversy is all the good works and what exactly does that mean. Should we be doing “good works” and if so, what good work are we supposed to do, or how do we define what can be applied as good works. Is there a list somewhere of the acceptable works that God would see as good? We think that we would have to go back to the time that God created us when we were the workmanship of God. Who did he create man to be?  When God made man, he put him in the garden telling him to work it and take care of it. Of course, he also told him he could eat from anything in the garden except the one tree. Then we would have to conclude that any work that God prepared for us is to take care of the garden and work it. Of course, we are a new creation, a new creature in Christ. Being a new creation takes us down a deep rabbit hole that we cannot fully develop in such a short devotion. However, we still need to find out as a new creation in Christ what are the acceptable works that we were created to do. Once again, we know many good things to do, that would be good for the kingdom, but is that the right evidence of being in Christ? We know that both believers and non-believers do many good works for the benefit of others. There are many humanitarian works that are very good. There are many religious works that are also very good. Therefore, that kind of works or acts of service may not be the kind of good works God has determined before that those in Christ should do, or walk in. The Greek word, peropateo, which is translated as “for us to do”, is actually defined as to walk in, to tread all around, walk at large, (especially as proof of ability); and figuratively, to live, to deport oneself, follow. This would lead us to think that what God has predetermined is that once we are this new creation in Christ, we should walk in the way of Christ, that is be holy. The “Good works” is therefore not a labor to do, but a way of life to live. What evidence is there of us being in Christ? It cannot be a good deed or labor, but it must be a holy life. If the “Good works” are an act of labor, a deed, then there is a beneficiary of that deed? But non-believers do acts of goodness that benefit others. So then what makes our deeds any better, or show any evidence of our being a new creature in Christ, with the old passing away? No, the good works God determined beforehand is that when we are in Christ, we have been called to live in Christ, living a holy life, filled with God, with the Spirit, and living in such a matter to bring praise and glory to Him.  It is possible that when we do good labor or deeds, we receive praise from men, at least other believers. But how do we receive praise from God? Live as he predetermined, we should live because we are in Christ. Just as God has declared us, holy and blameless in his sight. 

Living with Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LIVING WITH GRACE

Eph 2:1-10

2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

NIV

Since we know that God loves us and does not want anyone to perish, but to come to repentance and be saved, we know that he wants us dead or alive. His grace is available while we were dead in our sins, and he made us alive in Christ. Now we also know that it is by grace that we have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and we know that is it God who gave us the faith in the first place so that we can know without question, that our salvation has nothing to do with us, that it is a gift from God. We can look at life from two different views. One view requires a mirror so that we can see everything in our life from our efforts and abilities. this might be also seen as seeing everything from the world's point of view. However, we would think none of us believers would ever what to look into that mirror. Instead, we have a God view concerning all things, especially our lives. Everything in our lives is based on the grace of God. This Greek word for grace is Charis or manner or act of graciousness. That would certainly be a gift from God for we know that we are not worthy of His gift, that is why it is of or from ourselves. However, at the same time, this Charis-type grace brings about something in our lives. It is seen as the divine Influence of God on our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. This also brings us to the issue of our heart is seen from the Greek word kardia, as the thoughts and feelings (the mind) or by implication the middle. When Jesus said that out of the heart comes evil thinking, he is not implying the muscle that pumps our blood, but from the inner self, which comes from our thoughts, feelings, and mind. It is with our minds we think and produce those evil thoughts or thoughts about what is pure and lovely, which is Jesus. However, everything comes from God, his grace is all we need, for we cannot do anything about our salvation such as works or our deeds. We can never do enough to secure this gift from God. Therefore, we cannot boast about anything we can do about our salvation. But we should also consider that all boasting about self is evil. Even as believers we should not boast about our good works, or how much we do for the kingdom for that only gives glory to us or is looking for the praise of men. Because we are God’s workmanship, we are made in the image of God, and so everything we do should reflect His image, not ours. This can be difficult to grasp because it seems we do like to talk about our own lives, our past and present, things we have done and are doing, our likes and dislikes, our leisure time enjoyments, our interests in various aspects of life such as hobbies, sports, entertainment, and such. Yet, our main focus in life is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and he should be the center of our thoughts and feelings. Everything in our lives is about what God desires for us. Let us live under his grace all the days of our lives. 

Wanted Dead or Alive

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

WANTED DEAD TO ALIVE

Eph 2:1-10

2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

NIV

We are so glad, rejoicing in our hearts all the time because we are no longer dead in our sins, but we are alive in Christ. How can we not spend all day long with a rejoicing heart and spirit because we are no longer objects of wrath, but instead we are saved by grace? Although, as Paul said, we were once dead in our sins. It did not matter how good a person we might have been, or for that matter how bad a person we might have been, we were dead because we lived according to the ways of the world and, yes, we were living under the rule of the one referred to here as the ruler of the kingdom of the air, which would be the evil one, the devil. It is like that song that Bob Dylan wrote some years ago, “Ya gotta serve somebody, you are either goanna serve the devil or serve God, but you gotta serve somebody”. The day that we responded to the wooing of the Spirit, and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we switched our allegiance from the devil to Jesus. We no longer serve the evil one, but we serve the Holy One of God. However, it is all due to the grace of God, for He is the one who started this work in us. It is God who gave us faith in the first place. When we were dead in our sins, we lacked any faith because we lived by the ways of the world, faithless and totally about satisfying our own desires and thoughts. We did not care about anything other than ourselves. We were all about making our mark in the world, bragging about whatever accomplishments we had, and thinking about how important we were, if not to anyone other than ourselves. But that is all changed because of the grace of God. Now our lives are about bragging about Jesus. We live now under the rule of God as a citizen of His kingdom. We have abdicated our citizenship in this world and are no longer looking for praise from men, but only praise from our Lord. We have done nothing to gain life, for it is all God and none of us, although we are saved by faith, which again, is a gift from God for he gives every man a measure of faith. As we think about that, we must have had some measure of faith even when we were dead in our sins. We just refused to use the faith we had to believe in God, and instead had faith in ourselves, which was useless faith because we were still dead men walking. God wants us dead or alive, for he is the one who can make the dead become alive and even after he raised us from the dead and made us alive in Christ, He still wants us, in fact, because we are now alive in Christ, we have the right to be called children of God. Praise God that we are alive and that we will always be alive, either here in this world or in the one to come.

 

 

Head Over All

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

HEAD OVER ALL

Eph 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

NIV

The last truth in this passage is a biggie. When the term God is used, he must be referring to the Father because Christ, although he is God, is the Son and he did not place all things under his feet nor appointed himself as head of the church. In fact, in Greek verse twenty-two which starts with God in the English version, does not have the word Theos, but this is going back to verse seventeen when Paul uses the word Pateer, referring to the Father. Everything after that is then an act of the Father. Therefore, it is the Father who placed all things under the Sons' feet and appointed him to be head over everything in the church. Having worked through that we have come to the fact that Jesus has been given all authority over us, his body. Just as our head, our brain is in charge of our physical body Jesus is in charge of his body, us. Our body can do nothing other than what our brain tells it. Even now as our fingers are typing these words, they are fully under the power of our brain. Even the things we do not consciously think about using our body, it is still under the control of the brain, our heart beats, our lungs take in and expel air, our kidneys filter and send their works to the bladder, and on and on, many functions of our body are all under control of the brain. Thus, we must conclude that the church, which is us, should not be doing anything without our head, Jesus, making it happen. On the other hand, we the church, his body must also do everything the head, Jesus, tells us to do. We do wonder how exactly that plays out in the life of the church. Does that leave room for us to make decisions based on our wants and needs? Surely we can do what we want with the building we use to gather in, for that is just the building, not the church. Still, even that should come under the purview of Christ. So then, we should be careful and remember at all times, that Christ is the one who directs our lives, our moments, and our actions, on both the conscience and the unconscious level. When we consider that we are the fullness of him who fills everything in every way, we think about the whole of the universe. All the suns, stars, planets, and whatever, are under his control, under his feet, even this planet that we reside on was made by him for us. Therefore, when we become the church, when we become a member of the body of Christ, we complete the fullness of his authority, although he is still in charge of the world and all that is in and on it. But when we were not part of his body, we did things according to our mind's desire, however, now we have put that body to death and have been raised into his body, and therefore we have put ourselves under his headship, his Lordship, his leadership, and we should be doing what that head tells us to, and do nothing unless the head, Christ, tells us to. Perhaps, this is just in spiritual matters, but we think it might well be regarding all matters in our lives. 

Titles with Rule, Power, Authority, and Dominion

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

TITLES WITH RULE, POWER, AUTHORITY, AND DOMINION

Eph 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

NIV

There is one more truth within this passage that we need to contemplate. There is no question about the need for our hearts to be enlightened so we can know the hope to which we have been called. There is no question about his incomparably great power for us who believe. Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms, but now we should realize that Jesus is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, with every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Although Paul wrote this letter some two thousand years or so, ago we are still in the present age, for the age to come will be after the resurrection of all the saints and when there will be a new earth and new heaven with the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven and there we will live forever in the presence of God. Therefore, we are still in the present age, and as such Jesus is far above all rule. First, we need to understand that he is far above any rule we can exert in our own lives. What authority can we have over our lives, if Jesus is far above any authority? It is possible for us to have any power over our own lives when Jesus is far above any power. Maybe this rule, authority, power and dominion is just regarding the nations, but we have to believe this is meant regarding the life of a believer. His power over our lives is far above any power we can have over our lives, in fact, we have no power because we have submitted ourselves to his will, his rule, his authority, power and dominion. The one other truth we need to consider is about this title situation. Jesus has every title that can be given, so then can we really have any title at all? Because Jesus has every title given, there seems there would be no titles left unless we share some of the titles that Jesus has. Is that possible that we can share a title with Jesus? We know he has the title of “Great Shepherd” or “Great Pastor” for that is what a pastor does in some sense, shepherding the flock God has given to him. But what about assistant pastor, or music pastor, or whatever other pastor title we come up with? Jesus already has those titles unless the only titles that Jesus has been given are spiritual heavenly titles. We know his titles include Son of man, Son of God, I Am, Savior, Light of the world, Bread of life, King of kings, Redeemer, Beloved Son, Only begotten Son, Holy One, Deliverer, Lord of Glory, Chief corner stone, Lord of lords, and Prince of Peace, as well as any other title that has ever been given. We do wonder, if we should be so bold as claim any title for ourselves, other then what we have been given the right to, such as children of God. Yet, we know people who would like to be known as the worshipful Reverend so in so, or whatever other title they can add to their name. Every denomination of man has devised a plethora of titles for every aspect of leadership, or service. It almost seems that we are searching for titles to be known by other than a child of God. In the past, we have gone by a bible toten, or bible thumping, Spirit filled, follower of Jesus. It seems our culture, even the whole of mankind is obsessed with titles, and it has carried over into the church. What title can we give ourselves that gives us rule, power, authority and dominion? The only titles we should be concerned with are the titles of Jesus and that he is our Lord and Savior. 

Being Enlightened

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BEING ENLIGHTENED

Eph 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

NIV

In addition to knowing him better, because we have been given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, we also should pray for others that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened in order that they may know the hope which he has called them to, which are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and his incomparably great power for those who believe. On the other hand, we would think that others are praying that we would have the eyes of our hearts enlightened. We do wonder if it is possible that without someone praying for us, and vice versa, we are praying for them, that we all might have the eyes of our hearts enlightened because we have the indwelling of the Spirit, who leads us into all truth. We would think that it is the Spirit who does the enlightening of our hearts, but it also looks like we have to have the eyes of our hearts open, to that enlightenment. We wonder if it is possible as believers, we can close the eyes of our hearts, and thus we would not be enlightened and not know the hope that we have been called to. The Spirit is within us, but we must allow Him full access and authority in our lives for Him to open the eyes of our hearts. If we keep wanting the self within us to have any authority, then the eyes of our hearts will never be enlightened. Why would we not what the riches of his glorious inheritance? Why would we not want his incomparably great power? It is his power that he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. If the eyes of our heart are enlightened then we would know this same incomparably great power as he exerts in us as he raises us from the dead. In addition, Jesus said in the revelation given to John that those who overcome would have the right to sit on his throne with him, just as he overcame and sat down with the Father on His throne.  Of course, we want to know the power of God working in us and raising us from the dead. Therefore, we always want the Spirit to continue enlightening our hearts with all the truth of God. Let us put to death that self within us and bury it. That is exactly what we were supposed to do that day we were baptized. If we try to resurrect that self and exert its power in us, then we are going nowhere fast. It is only the incomparably great power of God exerted on us that will take us somewhere incredibly wonderful. Let us never shut the eyes of our hearts to the enlightenment of the Spirit. 

To Know Him Better

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

TO KNOW HIM BETTER

Eph 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

NIV

How much do we know God? Do we know Him enough or are we still in need to know him better? Then we wonder if we are always remembering others in our prayers and asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so they may know him better. Then we wonder if any is remembering us in prayer asking the glorious Father to give us the Spirit of wisdom and understanding that we might know Him better. However, we think that we all have this Spirit dwelling within us and therefore should we not already have the Spirit of wisdom and understanding? He is the same Spirit that leads us into all truth and so if we are listening to the truth, which would be the wisdom of God, and He gives us understanding, so then we already have what is needed to know God better. Plus, we have something those in Ephesus did not, no matter how much wisdom and revelation they received. We have the complete, comprehensive word of God that is chuck full of the wisdom of God and with the complete revelation of Jesus Christ so that we can know Him not just better, but know Him fully. Although, it is doubtful that we have comes to the point of fully knowing Him, and so we are always in need of studying His word while listening to the Spirit who opens our hearts and mind to all the truth within God’s word. Therefore, we are constantly in need of knowing Him better, but we do have all the resources at our fingertips and the Spirit within in order to know Him better and better each day. That should be our main focus in life, to know Him better. We do have to live our daily lives on earth, with all the complexities that entail, and so we cannot spend all day, every day in full-out study of His word. However, as we do, we can start each day with a little study, finding some truth, with the guidance of the spirit, so that we can ponder on whatever amount of truth has been revealed to us. In this way at least, we can learn something to help us know Him better.