3.-Ephesians-3.Pdf

Day 1 – Imprisoned But Still Impassioned Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) Scripture Reading – Ephesians 3:1-3 Paul was a prisoner – not unheard of for him! – under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial for preaching and teaching about the risen Lord Jesus. The religious leaders of Jerusalem had convinced the Roman authorities to arrest Paul on charges of treason and rebellion. Paul had used his status as a Roman citizen to appeal directly to the emperor in Rome, and was currently awaiting trial (see Acts 28:16-31). Despite these trials and imprisonment, with all the associated hardships, Paul still firmly believed that God was ultimately in control of what was happening to him. So strongly did Paul hold to the special stewardship of taking the gospel to the Gentiles that God had laid upon him that even imprisonment could not dampen his love for God, or force him into thinking maybe he (Paul) was mistaken in what he was doing. He wasn’t trying to guilt trip the Ephesians into lavishing their sympathy upon him because of his predicament (“for the sake of you Gentiles”). He was simply restating the special task God has called him to, and letting them know that imprisonment – and the threat of further punishment – was not going to stop him from working at his appointed task. God was still in charge, directing what was happening for his (God’s) glory. Even in such circumstances, as this chapter will show, Paul was still more concerned with encouraging the Ephesians in the importance of being God’s people in the world, and in praising God for his goodness. Questions to Consider How have you experienced God’s peace in the midst of chaos? How has he shown you he is still in charge? Prayer Sovereign Lord, even in the most dire of situations you are sovereign and in control. Help me see those times of seeming chaos as an opportunity to trust in you more, and to sing your praises louder. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Conclude with Silence (2 minutes) Day 2 – A Shared Inheritance Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) Scripture Reading – Ephesians 3:4-7 As N.T. Wright has said, the situation Paul is describing in this passage is a bit like – actually it’s exactly like! – a family being told they are the heirs to a great fortune, and will one day, at the appropriate time, receive the inheritance. They wait, and then one day it’s here, the inheritance is handed over to them. But along with it comes a secret instruction, that they are to share the inheritance with the people down the road, a family living nearby but one not even related to them! What the original family thought was just for them is still for them – but also for others. The glorious secret has been revealed and has resulted in something they were not expecting. This is the situation Paul initially found himself in. He was an Israelite, a faithful, observant Jew, waiting on the promises of God to restore his people and give them their rightful inheritance. And God does – but not in the way Paul (or anyone for that matter) envisioned. What the Israelites thought was just for them has been finally revealed (though long hinted at – the Old Testament is full of such clues) as for the entire world. Gentiles are to be welcomed into the family too, and not only welcomed in but accepted as full and equal members of the family. Such is the love of God. All Jewish and Gentiles believers are equal in the body of Christ, not by accident but by design. Questions to Consider How has the inheritance you have received changed how you view others not yet in the family? What would you say to them about it? Prayer Almighty God, may we, as your people, always exhibit the same inclusivity towards others that you have shown to us. You include all in the invitation to join your family; may we do so too. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Conclude with Silence (2 minutes) Day 3 – The Wisdom of God Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) Scripture Reading – Ephesians 3:8-13 It seems like wisdom is such a rare, precious commodity these days. We all require wisdom and we all see places and situations where it is desperately needed. But there just doesn’t seem to be much of it around to allow people and places to see and experience the love of God. Verse 10 contains one of Paul’s most important, yet also most often overlooked, statements about the church and about the church’s purpose. The church is to act as a conduit for the wisdom of God, to embody, channel, and express his wisdom and purpose to the world. While the church needs to express God’s wisdom in all it says and does, in its words and actions, God’s wisdom is also shown in the simple fact of the church’s very existence, simply through the church being what it is. He has called a people to complement his own presence in his world, to echo his voice, to follow and imitate his son – to show what living wisely looks like. To live lovingly, to relate to, worship and honour him, to be human. And this – his church, his people – is how he has chosen to go about it. He is very much a get involved kind of God, a ‘hands on’ God – but often the hands in question are ours. This is not a mistake. The world needs God’s wisdom, the wisdom of its creator, the one who knows it best, who loves it the most. And we – his people, formed through faith in his son Jesus – are to make that loving wisdom known. Questions to Consider What is wisdom? How does the church embody and display God’s wisdom to the world? How is God’s wisdom different to the world’s wisdom? Prayer Lord God, may we better be your wisdom in your world, may we live out what it means to love and honour you so the whole world can see. Amen. Conclude with Silence (2 minutes) Day 4 – The Fullness of Love Through Faith Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) Scripture Reading – Ephesians 3:14-19 Paul says he is kneeling. As prayer was usually engaged in standing up, the fact that he is kneeling shows how serious, how earnest he is about what he is now praying for the Ephesians. Paul is emphasising the development and strengthening of the inner person, the growth of inner strength and resolve to face and withstand the trials and setbacks that life will fling across our path. Outwardly looking good and keeping it together is easy, but developing inner firmness takes time, commitment and discipline – as well as trust in God, the only one who makes such inner transformation possible. Developing faith in Christ in this way requires taking risks. To know the sheer limitless scope of God’s love sometimes involves trusting in that very love to sustain us in ways and situations we may not be familiar with, that we may not have experienced before. But Paul is at pains – on bended knee! – to remind us of how “wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” We have the fullness of God available to us, through union with Christ through his spirit. But we can only appropriate that fullness through faith. “Faith breaks the barriers of the known and takes us to the undiscovered country. Faith broadens the horizon and surprises us at the end of the journey.” (Thomas B. Slater, Ephesians, p.101) Questions to Consider What does the fullness of God’s love mean to you? How has your faith grown through experience of this love? Prayer Loving Father, help me trust you more and risk more for the sake of you who risked all for me in the person of your son Jesus. May your limitless love sustain me in all I risk for you. In his name, Amen. Conclude with Silence (2 minutes) Day 5 – A Hymn of Praise Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes) Scripture Reading – Ephesians 3:20-22 Paul concludes this half of the letter with what is called a doxology, a short hymn of praise to God, often added to the end of psalms and hymns. Paul often ended his letters this way, though he also sometimes put them in the middle of his letters. Usually, as in this case, the doxology was comprised of three parts: in the first God is explicitly named, then he is praised, and finally there is some sort of eternity formula (“for ever and ever”). Paul praises God’s superabundant power, a power at work in each one of us, imperfect as we are. As Paul has shown in this first half of the letter, God’s power works through flawed people, people unable to help or save themselves, but who have been saved and called and equipped by God himself. The very fact of the church’s existence is one way in which God is glorified. The church is God’s creation, God’s workmanship. It exists because of both God’s grace and God’s power – his grace in freely reconciling us with himself and calling us to be his people, and his power in enabling us to be his representatives in his world. In this first half of the letter Paul has been highlighting and explaining the role of the church, the role of the people of God as representatives of God in this world, called by him, dependant on him and his spirit.

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