Grace City Denver

Who were the magi ... and why did they come to worship the newborn King of the Jews? How did they even know to head toward Bethlehem, when none of the Jewish religious leaders did? And what can we learn form this remarkable narrative?

As Simeon waited on the coming Messiah, he saturated his life with the Spirit's presence and with Scripture. He recognized the fulfillment of prophecy because he knew the Lord. Today, we've seen an even greater fulfillment, and we have access both to more Scripture and to more of the Spirit's indwelling presence. We can wait with Scripture-saturated lives that are led and empowered by God's Spirit.

When it was discovered that Mary was pregnant, Joseph knew it wasn't his child. Being a just man, he planned to divorce Mary secretly, so as not to expose her to additional public shame. But an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and told him that Mary had indeed conceived by the Holy Spirit and that her son would be the Savior of the world. Joseph obeyed the word of the Lord, changed his mind, married Mary, and named the new baby boy "Jesus."

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When the angel Gabriel told a young teenage girl named Mary that she would conceive the Son of God and Savior of the world, she responded with, "Let it be to me according to your word." She surrendered to God's plan rather than pursuing her own hopes and dreams of a normal, quiet life with Joseph. What can Mary teach us about waiting on the Lord's return with surrendered lives?

Paul wraps up the more doctrinal half of his letter to the Ephesians with a prayer and a benediction. He wants to see believers experiencing the fullness of God’s power and love in their inner person. And he believes they will experience exactly that because the Spirit is in them, able to do superabundantly more than they can even ask or imagine.

Paul declares the mystery of Christ to be the Good News that Jew and Gentile are saved by grace alone through faith in Christ alone and are joined as co-equals in one new humanity. This "mystery," now openly declared, gives all who hope in Jesus the same inheritance, the same power, and the same promise of salvation.

In our natural state as Gentiles, we were separated from God and distant from his covenant people, Israel. But we are brought near and reconciled through the sacrificial, atoning death of Jesus on the cross. That death and subsequent resurrection tore down the barriers between us and God, creating a whole new humanity in Christ. That new humanity has been variously portrayed as citizens of a new kingdom, members of a new family, and living stones of a new temple.

The Bible unequivocally teaches that we are spiritually dead apart from Christ. Not only can we not save ourselves, we can't even come to God apart from a regenerating work that first makes us alive to his grace. That's the bad news. But the good news is that Jesus saves – by his love, mercy, and grace. We receive the merits of his death, resurrection, and exaltation through faith. Though we can't be saved by good works, we are saved for good works that reflect the heart of Jesus.

Paul is in the middle of praying that the church might know Christ personally and intimately, and experience his hope, riches, and power at work in their everyday lives. Then in this section of verses, Paul zooms in on this immeasurably great power of God. What is it like? Over whom is it exercised? How can we know it’s for real? And how do we access it in order to live in the fullness of his supernatural strength?

Following immediately on the heels of his hymn to the Triune God who rescued sinners to the praise of his glorious grace, Paul prays that Christians might truly know this God and these blessings. He wants believers to know God not only intellectually, but personally, intimately, and experientially. He wants us to plumb the depths of God’s grace gifts so that we might understand how our future hope and inheritance transform our lives here and now.