Wow, talk about hitting the motherlode.  Reading through Ephesians is like one of the old California Gold-Rushers hitting a vein loaded with gold.  I can almost hear Daffy Duck running around hollering “I’m rich!  I’m rich!  Woohoo!”  Ephesians is packed with boulder-sized nuggets.  I’ll share a few of the ones I dig up, and I hope you’ll take the time to share a few that you find in your own mining expedition.

CHAPTER 1

VS 3-5 - PART OF THE FAMILY- This absolutely blows my mind.  Talk about affirmation!  Paul tells us here that even before he made the world, God knew what would happen (I guess that’s why he’s omniscient), and CHOSE US (that would mean that he chose me!) to be in Christ, and therefore to be a part of his family.  I don’t want to get all theological here so I’ll explain it this way… God knew sin would come into the world.  He knew that Jesus Christ would need to become a sacrifice for sin.  He knew that I (and hopefully those of you who are reading this) would say yes to his offer of salvation.  And because he knew I would say yes, it gave him pleasure to go through all of this for that.  WOW!  He did all that for me!  And if you have received Christ, he did all that for you!  God decided to go through all of this because he loves you and he loves me that much.  That is mind-boggling.  AND……it brought him pleasure.  It pleased God to go through all of this for you and for me.  So what the heck am I doing at times when I wonder if anybody really cares?  And what am I doing when I get slack about my serving?  Holy Cow… if God loves me enough to go through all of that, then what more affirmation do I need?  And if he loves me enough to go through all of that, why do I even allow myself to get slack in serving?

VS 11 - WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? - That’s a question that is deep in our hearts most of the time.  I know that I am seldom free from that carnal question.  It helps me to know at times that even the disciples asked that same question.  But here’s what’s cool about God.  He knows that lingers in our natures… and so he answers the question.  This verse is dynamite.  Paul says that we are getting an inheritance.  And the inheritance is from God…. sign me up for that!  If you knew you were in line for a mind-blowing inheritance from the family, and that nothing could change that, and that the only question would be how large based on how you conduct yourself and carry out the family business, do you think you could get jacked about that?  Do you think you might want to dive into the family business with everything you’ve got?  Paul says that riches beyond imagination are ours through the inheritance we have in God through Christ Jesus.  Maybe that should affect our involvement in the family business… you think?

VS 13 - SEAL IT - This is so cool to me… because this assures me that it is the Holy Spirit that maintains my future and my inheritance in Christ.  My allotment in the inheritance may be driven by my commitment to the family business, but my stake is guaranteed.  I don’t have to worry and fret about it all the time.

VS 3-14 - IT’S BIG - In all of these verses combined, Paul shows the big-picture process of salvation… dating all the way back to before the beginning of the world.  Paul describes the work of all three persons of the Trinity.

• God the Father - selected us by grace
• God the Son - Offered himself as the sacrifice for sin
• God the Holy Spirit -  Has “sealed” us in Christ, guaranteeing our relationship with God

VS 15-22 - WHAT A BLESSING - In these verses, Paul offers the content of his constant prayer for these believers.  And it is powerful.  I am asking God to help me to be equally committed in my prayers for those within the body I lead.

VS - 18 - GET THE PICTURE - “I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called.  I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritnace he has given to his people.”

YOUR TURN…….

Tags: Apostle Paul, Ephesians