Grace Messages

Last week, we started Paul’s prayer and we looked at his first request and his first desired result. In today’s section we will consider his second request and his second desired result. It is somewhat ironic though, because Paul will pray for something that is unattainable by his own admission! The fact that it is unattainable, makes the value of what he is praying for incredibly precious - and even though the request is unattainable, Paul desires movement towards the goal, because movement towards the goal will allow an attainable result.

There are lots of common misconceptions about baptism. The mode (sprinkling, immersion, etc.), the reason for it (salvation, spiritual power, discipleship, etc.), and its overall need (must have it, do not need to do it at all). Join us as we consider the importance of baptism – what it DOES NOT do and what it DOES do.

In Paul’s excursus from verse 2, he has been explaining his role in communicating the MYSTERY and this week we are going to see one of God’s overarching GOALS for revealing the mystery – it puts His wisdom on display from many different angles. God’s wisdom is shown through HOW He executed the MYSTERY that He had planned before the foundation of the world, but had only revealed in Paul’s time.

In Paul’s excursus from verse 2, he has been explaining his role in communicating the MYSTERY and this week we are going to see one of God’s overarching GOALS for revealing the mystery – it puts His wisdom on display from many different angles. God’s wisdom is shown through HOW He executed the MYSTERY that He had planned before the foundation of the world, but had only revealed in Paul’s time.

Paul continues his excursus on the MYSTERY that he had been tasked to preach. He aptly summarizes the MYSTERY in three different UNION descriptions in verse 6. This MYSTERY in a nutshell is God’s grand plan to accomplish salvation (in all aspects) IN Christ, through a BRAND-NEW entity known as the church! Additionally, although Paul views himself as somewhat insignificant, he recognizes his valuable role in declaring this valuable truth.

There is an irony concerning hypocrisy: it is something that is universally practiced but universally despised. It is found in all areas of society. We all have been known to be hypocrites about something at at least one point in our lives, whether its hypocrisy in the workplace, hypocrisy in church, or even hypocrisy in your home life. However, there are some reasons that it is particularly serious among Christians. We learn why as we follow the story behind Jesus' warning about hypocrisy in Luke 12:1.

As Paul wraps up his section on believers’ union with Christ and with one another in God’s unique building project, where He inhabitants them, he starts a prayer for the Ephesian believers in verse 1. However, Paul gets distracted, and then he does not re-start the prayer until verse 14. What distracts him? - The MYSTERY, which he then goes on to describe in another long run-on sentence from verse 2 to verse 13.

At the end of chapter 2, Paul shifts in his metaphors. He has been using the metaphor describing the church as ONE body, and now he shifts to a metaphor describing the church as ONE building. The Church is God’s construction project in our day! This is exactly what Jesus Christ spoke about in Matthew 16:18 when He said, “I will build my Church!”

The Jew/Gentile distinction and separation was HUGE throughout all of human history since Genesis 12 and the call of Abraham. Part of that distinction between the two groups was INTENTIONAL (by God) and part of it was an UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE of human pride. God’s salvation PLAN was to place believing sinners IN UNION with Christ, regardless of ethnicity – but what would He do about the separation or barrier between Jew and Gentile? Through five actions, Jesus deals with this barrier to enable ONE NEW MAN to be formed between believing Jew and Gentile.

Having established the individual saint’s relationship to God, Paul now develops the individual’s relationship to other individuals in the body of Christ. To do this, Paul provides another FLASHBACK and describes another GAME CHANGER to highlight another incredible thing God has done in uniting Jew and Gentile into one body. Paul explains what has happened to their distinctions, and this becomes a key THEME for the rest of the epistle.