Read Ephesians 4.

God’s love is a key theme in this book of Ephesians:

• God predestined us in love (1:3b-4a).
• God made us alive in Christ because of his great love for us (2:4-5).
• God wants us to be rooted and established in his love (3:17)
• God wants us to know his love, even though it surpasses knowledge (3:19).

Here in Ephesians 4, these truths about God’s love were applied. In verse 1, Paul urged believers “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” That “calling” is the calling to know and love God, to receive the gift of salvation by grace in Christ as we see in Ephesians 1:18b-19: “the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

Having described that calling in Ephesians 1-3, Paul now urged the believers in 4:1 to “live a life worthy of the calling….” How do you do that? The rest of chapter 4 lays it out:

• “be humble and gentle” (v. 2a).
• “be patient, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2b).
• “keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace” (v. 3)
• Grow in spiritual maturity through the gift of the church and its leaders (vv. 7-16).
• Put off the old self (vv. 17-22) and put on the new self (vv. 23-32).

I noted at the beginning of today’s devotional that “God’s love is a key theme” in Ephesians and I reviewed the key passages that mention God’s love. Look now in today’s chapter at all the ways “love” is intertwined with living “a life worthy of the calling” :

• v. 2: “bearing with one another in love
• v. 14: “speaking the truth ”in love”
• v. 16: “the whole body…”builds itself up in love”

A big part of “living up to the calling” is living a life of love. Just as God loved us and called us to faith, now we live out that faith by loving one another in the church. We bear with each other, speak the truth, and build each other in the body up “in love.”

In our church, is there someone you find hard to put up with (v. 2)? (Don’t leave the name in the comments, please!) Living according to God’s loving call in your life means putting up with that person.

In our church, is there someone you should speak truth to “in love” (v. 14)? Taking on that difficult conversation in a loving way, speaking the truth for that person’s good rather than avoiding the real issue is how you live according to the loving call God extended to us.

In our church, who do you need to “build up in love”? Who is hurting? Who is missing our worship gatherings? Who needs to learn some life or ministry skills that you could teach them?

Building them up in love is how we live according to God’s gracious, loving call in our lives. Just as God loved us when we were unlovely, we should bear with the unlovely “in love.” Just as God spoke truth to us through the gospel, we should speak the truth “in love” to others around us. Just as God is building godliness in us (v. 24b), we should build up each other in godliness because we love God and his people.

These are some of the loving ways we can live a life worthy of who God–in love–has called us to be in Christ.

 

Rumble | YouTube | SermonAudio | New Arbor Bible Church

Read Ephesians 3.

Paul described for the Ephesians how he prayed for them in verses 14-19 of this chapter.

His prayer was that they would be strengthened spiritually by God’s power (v. 16). Specifically, he wanted them to know Christ by faith (v. 17) and go much deeper in love. Notice how love is mentioned in verses 17, 18, and 19. Christ’s love is what establishes us (v. 17b) and his love for us is immense (v. 18: “how wide and longs and high and deep”) so we need God’s help to grasp it. It is so great that it “surpasses knowledge” yet God wants us “to know this love” (v. 19a). The result of knowing and growing in Christ’s love is that we will “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Consider some ways in which knowing God’s love changes us:

• If we know how much God loves us, we will believe that sin will damage us.
• If we know how much God loves us, we will believe that obedience, not sin, will bring joy to our lives.
• If we know how much God loves us, we will believe that he allows bad stuff into our lives for our good not to cause us pain.
• If we know how much God loves us, we will not fear what people think of us.
• If we know how much God loves us, we will want to share his love with other people, even those we think are unlovely.

I’m sure that list could go on and on. God wants you to be holy, he wants you to believe his word, he wants you to live a generous, giving life, he wants you to spread the gospel and live for eternity.

But the key that unlocks all these (and other) great Christian truths is the knowledge that God loves you. So, ask him to teach you how much he loves you and pray for others that they might know and grow in the knowledge of Christ’s love for them.

 

Rumble | YouTube | SermonAudio | New Arbor Bible Church

Read Ephesians 2.

This chapter of scripture lays out clearly and logically what God has done for us in Christ.

First, Paul described our need: we were “dead in [y]our transgressions and sins.” We were under God’s wrath by nature (v. 3b) and because we deserved his wrath for our sinful actions and lives (vv. 2-3a).

Second, he pointed us to God’s amazing nature. Despite our sin, God had “great love for us” and “is rich in mercy” (both in verse 4) despite the fact that we deserved justice for our sins. So, since we were “dead” in sins (v. 1) God “made us alive with Christ” (v. 5a) and “raised us up with Christ” (v. 6a). That’s a reference to the spiritual life God gave to us through the gospel message. More about all this in a second….

Third, God united us with his chosen people Israel (vv. 11-22). We used to be excluded from the spiritual status the Jews (v. 12) had but now, “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (v. 13). Christ accomplished this reconciliation for us, using one means of salvation–the cross–for both Jews and Gentiles (v. 16b) to make us into one body (v. 16a). As a result, we are God’s children just as much as any Jewish believer is (v. 19) and Christ is building us together into a holy temple (vv. 20-22).

Going back to verses 4-9, we learn there that God has done incredible things for us in Christ.

First, all that he has done for us is by grace (vv. 5, 8a). God’s grace is his favor that we don’t deserve and could never earn. Sinners though we were (and are) and unable to make our own favor with God, God just gave it to us! He gifted us new life in Christ including the faith to trust him for it (v. 8a).

He also will give us an eternity where he lavish us with more gifts of grace than we can possibly imagine (v. 7). But there is a purpose to all of this: God not only gave us this redemption for his own glory, he did it to make something great out of us.

Verse 10 calls us “God’s handiwork.” He wants to make works of holy art out of our sinful lives.

How does he do this?

By “good works” (v. 9). As we become more holy, we live more righteous lives and do unselfish things to serve the Lord, his gospel, and his people.

All of this displays the greatness of God because, on our own, we are incapable of becoming masterworks of holiness. This is what Jesus was getting at when he said, “…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16).

Let’s shine God’s light through our good works today–by his grace, of course.

 

Rumble | YouTube | SermonAudio | New Arbor Bible Church

Read Ephesians 1.

At the end of Acts 28, Paul was living in his own rented home and waiting for two years for his trial in Rome. During this house arrest, Paul wrote his “prison epistles”–Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon–so this seems like an appropriate point for us to read them.

As we read the book of Acts, we saw that Paul spent two years in Ephesus (Acts 19:10) on his third missionary journey. At the end of that journey, as Paul traveled to Jerusalem, Paul stopped in Miletus and called for the elders from the Ephesian church to come meet with him (Acts 20:17-38). I’m bringing all this up to remind you that Paul had a very personal interest and relationship with this particular church. This is why he wrote one of his prison letters to them while in Rome awaiting trial.

The mood of this chapter, Ephesians 1, is ebullient; it overflows with praise for God’s love and blessings (vv. 3-14) and thanks for the faith of the Ephesians (vv. 15-23). Although there are many truths in this chapter on which we could meditate, let’s focus on verse 13b-14, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

God has promised so much in Christ, but how do we know that those promises apply to us? According to verse 13b, we know they are for us because the Holy Spirit seals us. The seal of the Holy Spirit is a way to describe God’s ownership. The Spirit tells us that we belong to Christ. As we see the fruit of the Spirit growing and developing in our lives, it reassures us that we belong to Christ.

The Holy Spirit is more than our seal, though, according to this verse. He is also, “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance….” This means that the joy he brings us in Christ, the love that we have for other believers and that they have for us, and all the other benefits the Spirit gives us are reminders of what eternity will be like.

Think of the greatest worship service you’ve ever experienced, the kind where each song drew your heart closer to God and the message filled you with awe and love for God.

I’m talking about the kind of service that made you feel sad when it ended but also made you feel excited to read the word and serve God while singing his praises. That is what eternity with Jesus will be like! The Spirit’s blessing on us as our seal is a deposit, reassuring you that you will be there to experience that eternity and giving you a preview of what it will be like.

If the Spirit is the deposit, the down payment of these good things, then when do we get the whole package of good things?

According to verse 14 it will be at “the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” “The redemption of those who are God’s possession” is a reference to the return of Christ. At that time, Christ will select everyone who has the Spirit–the seal of his ownership–and he will finish his work of redemption by glorifying our bodies and sanctifying our hearts and minds fully. Then he will welcome us into the worship service that never ends.

You have the Holy Spirit to remind you of all that is coming for us in Christ in eternity. So be encouraged no matter what happens today and walk in the Spirit obediently as a child of God.

 

Rumble | YouTube | SermonAudio | New Arbor Bible Church

Read Acts 28.

This is the end of the New Testament’s record of Paul’s ministry. Although it is the end of the record, it seems clear that it was not the end of Paul’s ministry. According to tradition, Paul won his trial in Rome (the first time) and was released. He continued traveling for the gospel until he was later captured again and executed.

We read yesterday of his shipwreck; in the early verses of this chapter, we see how God used that to demonstrate His power to the pagan people of Malta (vv. 1-10). Eventually Paul did reach Rome where he received the welcome he had hoped from the Roman believers (vv. 14-15). He was also able to live privately under house arrest (v. 16) instead of in an actual prison. This gave him the opportunities he wanted to share the gospel, starting as he always did, with the Jewish people (vv. 17-23).

Notice the results of teaching the gospel in verse 24: “Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.” This is what will happen whenever any of us shares the gospel. Not everyone will respond to the gospel in faith. That’s one reason why we are hesitant to tell others about Christ–because we know many will reject it.

Here’s the thing about witnessing for Christ: many will reject the gospel message but some will believe. This was Paul’s confidence expressed in verse 28: “God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” Don’t let rejection by some in the past to the truth of Christ shut you down from telling others about Jesus. Rejection of the gospel is part of sharing the gospel but if you faithfully deliver it to others, some of them “will listen!” (v. 28b).