Ephesians Series

December 04, 2021

By 62 AD Paul was a prisoner in Rome. While there, he wrote a letter to the believers in Ephesus. The interesting thing about the letter is that Paul did not address any specific problems nor did he call out a specific group like he did in his other correspondence. However, the content of the letter indicates that the church was struggling with the perceived differences between the Jewish and Gentile believers as well as with what it meant to live as a Jesus follower. So, Paul spent most of the letter reminding the believers that through Jesus they have equal status before God and that that status should impact how they interact with and treat each other.

• Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

• Ephesians 2:17-22 - He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

• Ephesians 3:4-6 - In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

• Ephesians 5:1-2 - Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Which brings us to My Favorite Thing About EPHESIANS ---- 4 words: Chosen - Adopted - Redeemed and Forgiven.

These 4 words have to do with Identity – with who we are before God and it is a theme throughout Paul’s writings ---- This constant reminding that man-made race distinctions, caste systems and lines of division have no place within the life of a Christ-follower or within the community of believers.

In Ephesians, Paul was speaking to both groups when he used the words “you” and “us” and “we” and in doing so, leveled the field.

In order to avoid misunderstanding, we have to remember the context of the letter. Paul was not writing to the general population. He was writing to people who claimed to be followers of Jesus – claimed to have accepted Salvation through Righteousness by Faith and yet whose treatment of their fellow Christians was decidedly NOT Christlike.

Here in the USA, identity and self-image are very much intertwined with looks, weight, clothes, nationality, culture, money, # of Twitter and Instagram followers or Facebook “friends” or how much stuff you have.

Hollywood, fashion and the media have set unattainable expectations on what it means to be beautiful. They have edited and photoshopped their way into the national psyche – to our detriment.

Both young women and young men have been programmed to think that they have to look a certain way, dress a certain way, take a “selfie” a certain way, or be a social media “influencer” with a certain # followers in order to grasp that elusive golden ring known as popularity.

These Identity loops are dangerous and destructive because what happens to our self-worth when we experience “failure”?

• What happens when you wear something because you like the color only to be told, “that’s SO last year.”?

• What happens when you’ve just colored your hair honey blond only to be told that grey is now “in”?

• What happens when your “selfie” isn’t quite right or you are no longer as influential or your Tik Tok is weird and you get mocked for your effort?

Worse yet….

• What happens when you reveal something about yourself or take an unpopular stand and you get “cancelled”?

What happens when we “fail”? The very foundation of our identity is shaken. We might become depressed, full of self-doubt or need therapy. We determine to never let it happen again, no matter how much we have to spend or how many hoops we have to jump through – because it’s just too painful to be on the outside. Then, horror of horrors, the “ideal” changes AGAIN…. And because the ideal keeps changing, we come to see ourselves, to one degree or another, as perpetual LESS-THAN’s and the cycle begins all over again.