Welcome to Talk 6, the last Talk of No More Strangers, our deep dive into Ephesians.
Talk 1 explored the first chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he pointed out that through Jesus, the small exclusive circle of Abraham, the Jews, has extended to everyone—Jews and Gentiles alike. That means everyone can now belong to God’s House.
The key message: God has a plan.
Talk 2 starts the second chapter of Ephesians.
Paul preaches the same message in two parts, with each part looking at the same story but using a different lens.
The first part—verses 1 to 10—takes on a more meta view—retelling the entire history of the world from a cosmic perspective.
The second part—verses 11 to 22—is more micro—retelling the same history of humanity—but from a Gentile vs. Jewish perspective.
The key message: You belong to God’s House.
Talk 3 points out that every single human being has equal dignity, equal identity, and equal inheritance—because we’re all children of God. No exception.
The key message: We are equally loved by God.
Talk 4 affirms that our identity in Christ gives us real unity. If we follow Jesus, then we should be willing to sacrifice for our unity.
The key message: God Wants Real Unity.
Talk 5 points out the massive gap between our identity and our behavior. We see our old habits resurfacing, our sinful knee-jerk reactions reappearing, our old sins—sins we thought were gone—coming alive again.
Reason? We forget who we are.
The key message of Talk 5 is: Be who you really are.
Talk 6 reiterates the reality of evil. Indeed, Christianity is not a playground, it’s a battleground. When you follow Jesus, you will have to fight every day for what is most important to you.
The Good News is we can Fight in God’s Army with God’s Armor
The key message: Don’t fight alone.