Ever felt down in
your relationship with the Lord? Ever
felt discouraged or disappointed in your service for the Lord? Ever felt like
throwing in the towel, or tempted to just walk away? Next time, in the midst of
your spiritual despair, you may wish to consider turning to Paul's letter to
the Ephesians and prayerfully reading it - slowly! It'll encourage your heart and do you so much
good.
Despite the title of
the letter at the top of your Bible page, there are reasons to believe that the
letter wasn't written to a particular church with a specific set of problems
needing to addressed. 'Ephesians' is more
of a 'generic' letter of spiritual encouragement and revitalisation, most
likely written as a circular letter to a group of churches (possibly filled
with jaded and disheartened Christians).
Paul's purpose is to lift their spirits and rekindle their faith, love
and hope in the Lord by first, giving them an overview of Gospel truth and to
remind them of the riches of the spiritual blessings God has already lavished
upon them (Ephesians 1-3); and then, secondly, giving some apostolic
instruction as to how that truth is to be lived out, particularly in their
relationships with one another within the church fellowship and also with
unbelievers outside their community bounds (Ephesians 4-6).
Ephesians 1:3-14 is
a beautiful hymn of praise to God who has gone to such lengths to plan and
prepare for our salvation (v3-6), to the Son who has accomplished our salvation
(v7-12) and to the Holy Spirit (v13-14) who has secured our salvation and who ensures
that God's plans, forged in the depths of eternity past will certainly be
brought to perfect fulfilment - and all "to the praise of His glorious
grace" (v6,12,14). This passage
helps us begin to understand, if not fully appreciate, what God does 'below the
surface' to bring us to conscious faith in Jesus. And "in Christ",
God has blessed us with "every spiritual blessing" He has to give us
(v3); nothing is withheld, nothing is given to some believers and not to
others; "in Christ", we get it all.
What an encouragement to know we are so loved, so graced, so blessed By
God. The problem is, all too often, we
don't really believe it…
Which is why Paul
turns to prayer (v15-23). Grateful for the evidence of true faith and love in
their transformed lives (v15-16), Paul prays that a deeper appreciation of the
grace that God has lavished upon the Ephesian Christians may stir within them a
real heart's longing and desire to know and understand God better (v17), to
keep looking and pressing ahead with a persevering hope to their promised
heavenly inheritance that awaits (v18), and to experience the same power that
raised Jesus from the dead in their own lives so that they will live faithfully
and fruitfully for the glory of God (v19).
The reality is that
all true Christian believers have already experienced this resurrection power
in our lives in bringing us from spiritual death - in our unconverted,
unbelieving state - to a living faith in Jesus (2:1-5). Only the merciful
intervention of God has rescued us from our spiritual deadness and
insensitivity to God and the things of God: it's all of grace (v8). Even our faith is God's gift to us. So be encouraged: you're not even responsible
for your own (wandering and wavering) faith - God will ensure that we complete
the tasks that He has assigned to us throughout our lifetimes (v10).
If anything, Gentile
converts have perhaps more to be thankful for (2:11-18), for they had been -
spiritually speaking - further away from God than their converted Jewish
brothers. Jewish Christian were more than familiar with the Biblical promises,
traditions and privileges which had been denied the Gentiles (v11-12). But the Gospel changes everything. And now,
God original, hidden plan, His "mystery" has been revealed (3:3-6): through faith in
the Gospel, Christian Jews are united with their Gentile brothers (2: 11-18;
3:7-12) on the same level, with the same access to God and with the enjoyment
of all the blessings of God in the Gospel.
As the Cross removes every ethnic and cultural barrier between
them, so together we all are being built
together into a united Temple, with Christ the chief cornerstone (2:19-22).
What Paul prays that
the believers may begin to grasp, is the infinite dimensions of God's loving
grace in Christ towards His people that has made all this possible
(3:14-19). He wants us to know what -
because of its limitless width, height, length, and depth - cannot be fully
known, God's love for us. And he wants to us believe it is real. For it is this
that will lift our heads (Psalm 3:3), raise our downcast spirits (Psalm 42:11),
heal our broken hearts (Psalm 147:3). It is the reality of God's unfathomable
love to us in Jesus that will encourage us to press on.
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