Ephesians is a book I have underlined a lot. It seems like the messages to the church in Ephesus are ones that minister to us today in so many ways. First of all, this church must have been one that was very open to the people in their community and they were known to be people full of great faith. Yet one thing Paul prayed for them was that they would understand the incredible greatness of God's power (vs 19). Whenever I read this I am reminded of how little we know God and how little we trust that He wants to show His power to us and thru us. Listen to vs 21 -" Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else (even our present rulers!) - not only in this world but also in the world to come."And he continues in vs 22 "God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church."
So, who prospers when our leaders aren't doing quite right? The church. In fact, no matter what our leaders in authority are doing, God is going to watch out for His church. That's why we can trust in Him no matter what is happening around us. Oh yes, remember who the church is - those who have named Him their Lord and Savior. It doesn't matter what local church you go to, it does matter who you have made Lord of your life!!!
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I love verses 17-19. "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe." Isaac and I pray that over our family all the time...that He would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that He would open our eyes to Him and what He is doing, etc. We literally pray this verse. This is a powerful prayer and God is faithful.
I think about this church in Ephesus often. It was a good (but not perfect) church with a young pastor (Timothy) and Paul was fathering them. Ephesus was a huge city (one of the largest at that time) and I think they met in a huge amphitheater. (I guess we already have the example even back then of church taking over stadiums as meeting places). I can only imagine the breadth of its influence back then. This book is such a great message to the church today and there is so much to learn from people like Paul and the church in ephesus who have gone before us.
Paul wrote Ephesians as an encouragement to the Church, the Body of Christ, and also to instruct the Body of Christ as to what we are to look like and how we are to function. Paul begins by telling us that “Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” (vs. 3-5 NLT, emphasis added) Think about that … before anything was made, God had a plan, an unchanging plan…to chose us/me and to adopt us/me, through Jesus, into His family. And this gave Him great pleasure! We are not always the best behaved children; but when we repent, the blood of Jesus makes us holy and without fault in God’s eyes!
Verses 20-22 in the Message Remix caught my eye... “Christ…in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule….He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.” The word peripheral means marginal, secondary, unimportant. Some food for thought...does the world see themselves as secondary to the church or do they see the church as secondary to themselves and why?
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