Our Gift!

The city of Ephesus was a center of world trade in the first century and they needed the Gospel to be relevant to their urban, contemporary lifestyles (The Legacy Bible).  Does that sound familiar to you?  It should because we find ourselves in the same position in our lives today.  It is amazing to me how very similar our situation is today as it was to these first century Christians.  Here are some wonderful insights directly from the introduction to this book from The Legacy Bible:

"This epistle was probably intended as a pass-around letter, to be sent not only to Ephesian city-dwellers but also to those in the surrounding towns...From harbor docks to downtown public baths, the Ephesian Christians may have thrown these questions back and forth, pondering issues their grandparents could hardly imagine and praying for strength against secular temptations."

This book is so packed with some of Paul's most profound writings that we could literally spend weeks on this amazing book.  So I am going to attempt to pull out some of my favorite verses from the first three chapters.

CHAPTER 1:

Verse 4 - "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will..." 

It is absolutely incredible to me that before the creation of the world, God chose us to belong to Him.  It also raises the question and the problem of how God's sovereignty and our free will can co-exist.  I have really struggled with this concept many times and this very issue has divided many churches as well.  I do not know how, but the two do exist at the same time.  What I do know is that Jesus DID NOT come to die for only a select few!  There is NO WAY Jesus came to die, suffer, and take on the sins of the WHOLE world so that only a select chosen few would get the opportunity to be with Him for all eternity.  This is the problem with Calvinism...that is all I am going to say on that matter.

CHAPTER 2:

Verses 8-10 - "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is THE GIFT of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."


 Did you notice the words "the gift" in this passage?  That is EXACTLY what we are celebrating with indescribable joy today and tomorrow (and everyday for that matter)!  The most AMAZING gift that has EVER been created or given is the FREE gift of salvation for us.  Do you REALLY get the fact that there is NOTHING we can do to earn this gift?  NOTHING!!!!  And if there is nothing we can do to earn this gift, then how can we do anything to unearn this gift?  This is another very divisive issue in the church today.  As I ask the young people that I work with, just think logically about it...throw everything else aside.  If there is NOTHING you can do to earn something, then how can there be anything you can do to get it taken away???

CHAPTER 3:

Verse 20 - " Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..."

This is such a cool verse that does not get its proper justice through our English language.  The words that Paul uses here in the Greek language is basically telling us that God can do WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY,WAY more than we can possibly even fathom!   I learned this through a study I did with Priscilla Shrier (not sure of the spelling of her name) and this was the main point that she was making about this powerful verse.  I just do not think that we can even BEGIN to imagine how incredible and how powerful our God is.  And the fact that He wants to lavish this on us and share it with us.  WOW!!!

Let me just say to you all that I cannot thank you enough for THE GIFT of reading through the Bible with me this year.  There is no way I can possibly thank you for how my life has been changed for all eternity thanks to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.  May the indescribable gift of Jesus coming for us and to us fall all over you today and tomorrow in an incredible, overwhelming manner that leaves you breathless and wanting more of Him!!!

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

~ John 1:14

Amen and Amen!