The Unity of the Spirit

Reading:  Ephesians 4:1-6
    
    This section marks a transition in the letter.  Paul urges the Ephesians to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called”(Eph 4:1), taking the great blessing of grace into practical living.  Walking worthy involves “all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”(Eph 4:2-3).  Paul has spoken at length about the unity God has created by bringing Jews and Gentiles together into one body (Eph 2:14-16, 3:6).  Now our duty is to maintain the unity of that body by being humble, patient, and forgiving.  We must work to overcome the difficulties we have with one another, lest they fracture the body and ruin what God has built.  What sounds like lofty theology is actually quite practical:  my stubbornness, anger, and selfishness can ruin God’s eternal project.

    The unity of the body is just one aspect of the unique oneness of the gospel.  “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”(Eph 4:4-6).  The emphasis on oneness here is about how God has done things in an exclusive way.  There are not many bodies, spirits, lords, or faiths because God wants us to subscribe to his one way.  The unity of the one body is a priority because this is the way God has chosen to call people to himself.  The fact that this is the unity of the Spirit (Eph 4:3) emphasizes that God is its author—and that when we break it, we undo his work.

    Behind Paul’s words is the implication that our pride, harshness, and implacability will lead to division in the one body.  Will I allow my stubbornness to tear down what Christ has built?  Will my frustrations with other Christians boil over?  Will I grow jaded because others are imperfect?  Will Christ’s body be plagued by my bitterness and hatred?  In my eagerness to do right, I must be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

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One Thing to Think About: Is my inability to get along with others a threat to Christ’s one body?

One Thing to Pray For:  Humility, gentleness, and patience
 

What God Can Do

Reading:  Ephesians 3:14-21
    
    Paul is so stirred up by his vision for God’s grand plan to unite mankind in Christ that he has interrupted himself (Eph 3:1, 14) and now describes how this motivates his prayers for them.  “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being”(Eph 3:14-16).  If God wants Gentiles included, then Paul wants them to be strong!  They will need strength to endure despite opposition, but they will also need “strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ”(Eph 3:18).  There are some thoughts that are so grand, powerful, and staggering that we need strength just to process them.  The grandeur of God and the dimensions of his love max out our capabilities; Paul prays for strength.

    To all this “inner being” focus, Paul adds more requests.  “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you being rooted and grounded in love”(Eph 3:17).  Paul wants Jesus alive in their hearts so that their lives are shot through with this words and example.  He wants heart change rather than behavior modification.  He also prays that they “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”(Eph 3:19).  How can we know something that surpasses knowledge?  This tickles the brain.  Paul is confident that there is more to the love of Christ than we can grasp.  True growth is not found in moving past Christ’s love, but growing deeper into it.  “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.  Amen”(Eph 3:20-21).  God can do all this and more.

    This prayer leaves me breathless.  God can transform us from the inside out.  He can do all that we ask.  He can do all that we think.  He can do more than we ask or think.  He can do more abundantly than all that we ask or think.  But this is not enough:  he is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.”  This is the God at work in us.  God can do all this and more.

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One Thing to Think About: How often do I contemplate the “breadth and length and height and depth” of Christ’s love?

One Thing to Pray For:  The strength I need to serve Jesus and comprehend his love
 

Boldness and Access with Confidence

Reading:  Ephesians 3:7-13
    
    Paul views his apostleship as a special grace from God, especially because he is unworthy of the role.  “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ”(Eph 3:7-8).  Rather than viewing his work as a drudgery (or as a risk to his personal safety), he sees it as a tremendous honor.  This is especially true because Paul feels he is “the very least of all the saints.”  Yet God has empowered Paul to “bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God”(Eph 3:9) by bringing Gentiles home to God.  The goal is that through his work—through this united body of believers—“through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”(Eph 3:10).  God’s work declares his wisdom to all people and spiritual authorities.

    Now in Jesus “we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him”(Eph 3:12).  We know that God’s eternal plan includes us.  We know that our connection to God through Jesus declares God’s great wisdom.  We know that God has granted us “access” to him through Jesus.  So now we can approach God, knowing that he will hear and answer us.  We can call him Father.  We can boldly affirm that his promises are for us.  We can make requests of him and cast our cares on him.  We can enter the throne room of God.  Our faith tells us we belong.

    Christians struggle with insecurity.  God’s promises and assurances seem to better fit people who are better than we are—the Abrahams and Daniels and Davids of the Bible.  Do we belong?  Paul teaches us to zoom out.  We are the beneficiaries of an eternal plan and desire of God.  Why would God do so much for us and then exclude us?  Why would he bless us, then refuse to hear us?  We can be bold and confident, certain that he loves and accepts us.

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One Thing to Think About: Do I feel bold and confident about approaching God?

One Thing to Pray For:  The assurance God wants me to feel
 

The Mystery

Reading:  Ephesians 3:1-6
    
    To Paul’s great surprise, God has given him a special mission to the Gentiles.  “assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly”(Eph 3:2-3).  God has revealed his “mystery” to Paul.  The mystery is not something difficult to understand, but something which was unknown to man.  God’s will “was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”(Eph 3:5).  As faithful as the prophets of old were, as devout as the great heroes of faith were, they did not know what we now know.  To them it was a mystery.  

    Yet this mystery has now been revealed.  “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ”(Eph 3:4).  Because Paul has received revelation from God, he sees things that others simply could not.  This makes his writings invaluable.  So what is the specific content of the mystery he keeps referring to?  “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel”(Eph 3:6).  God’s previously veiled plan to bring Jews and Gentiles together in one body in the Messiah has now been revealed.  God has always hoped to unite all people in one, abolishing the differences of nation, class, and gender.  God has always wanted to open the kingdom to all.  Yet what was once shrouded in mystery is now plainly seen.

    Part of God’s genius is that his thoughts are unknowable (and unguessable!) until he reveals them.  Yet when revealed, they are consistently beautiful and wonderful, full of goodwill and unexpected blessing.  Believers now can rejoice in the parts of God’s plan that he has shown us through men like Paul.  We can also anticipate with fervent hope the revelations of the final stages of God’s work which are still yet to come.

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One Thing to Think About: What wonderful things does God still have planned for his people?

One Thing to Pray For:  Gratitude for God’s acceptance of all people who believe in his Son
 

Remember Your Roots

Reading:  Ephesians 2:11-22
    
    It is hard to appreciate where we are if we don’t remember where we’ve come from.  “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”(Eph 2:11, 12).  Prior to their conversion, these Gentile believers were hapless and hopeless.  They had no share in the Messiah, the people of God, or the promises to Abraham.  They had their gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and the like—but they were gods you didn’t want to cross, not gods you had legitimate hope in.  The Gentiles were on the outside looking in.  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”(Eph 2:13).  The death of Jesus signals a glorious bridging of the gap, so that a distant people are ushered into the people of God.

    The cross unites us (Eph 2:14), removes the “dividing wall of hostility”(Eph 2:15) of the Law of Moses, and ultimately “(reconciles) us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility”(Eph 2:16).  Now there is peace between Jew and non-Jew.  Now there is peace between God and all believers.  Now all people can have access to the Father through the Spirit (Eph 2:18).  Yet appreciating these blessing hinges on a memory of where we started:  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”(Eph 2:19).  Now we are part of the holy temple God is building, in which the Spirit dwells.  

    Paul wants believers to remember their roots—not their physical origins, but their spiritual lostness outside of the cross.  Only when we have experienced exclusion do we appreciate belonging; only when we have been hopeless do we appreciate optimism; only when we have been lost do we appreciate being found.  Our actions have excluded us from the blessings God offers, yet he has put away our sins at his own expense at the cross.  Remembrance does not mean merely wallowing in our old sins, but maintaining the humility that acknowledges what we truly deserve.  Remember your roots—your spiritual rags-to-riches story—and give glory to God.

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One Thing to Think About: What do I remember about my past that leads me to glorify God?

One Thing to Pray For:  A healthy memory