Text Message From God

Text Messages From God
My Own Insights From The Book of Ephesians

Chapter 1: A God Who Calls Us To More Than I Thought
Read chapter 1 of Ephesians. I'm currently reading it in the New Living Translation here

Here's what stuck out to me:

• "This letter is from Paul ... an apostle" (v. 1)
• I'm reminded that this book is a big deal. It's not written by a "hot off the presses upcoming Christian author or cultural leader" like David Platt, Joel Osteen, Francis Chan or so on and so forth. This isn't written as a self-help book, it's not just a fad. This is Scripture. This is God-inspired words, text messages from God to us, a snippet, a letter condensed and packed with theology and truth that we can hold on to. This is from an apostle, a first follower of Jesus that did miracles, survived with miracles, and wrote 1/3 of our New Testament. This is a big deal that I can't just shrug off or read through passively like Collins' The Hunger Games. This book is something I need to slow down with. I need to take my time and meditate on Ephesians. I need to, as Joshua 1:8 exhorts, "meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." God calls us to view this as more than just a book, it's a text message from God.
• APPLICATION: I need to take more time with not only Ephesians, but all my future reading. 
• "All praise to God ... who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing" (1:3)
• wait ... what? spiritual blessing? Many Sundays I have sung "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" but what "blessings" am I singing about? a big house? a dog? nintendo wii? minivan? Are these the types of blessings we should rest our faith on? Should we believe in God so that we can be blessed with physical, tangible riches? Some would say yes. Paul would say no. I'm not saying that we shouldn't thank God for our circumstances, I'm saying we should thank God even in the worst of circumstances, physical/monetary/financial blessings present OR absent. Paul here writes in verse 3 that we should specifically focus and give praise to the God because He gives us spiritual blessings: The Holy Spirit. Salvation. Forgiveness. Peace. Love. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Joy. And these we have because we are united with Christ. God calls us to be thankful for more than just the physical world around us, but for the spiritual reality within us. 
• APPLICATION: I need to remind myself that when my "physical blessings" are failing with a check-engine light or a stopped up drain, that I still have much to be thankful for directly from God. And that's what I should focus on. 
• one specific spiritual blessing Paul mentions is this: "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure" (vv. 4-5). 
• There are 2 main views of how the act of salvation is played out in Christian thought today: Armenianism & Calvinism
• Armenianism is like a swimmer caught out in the ocean by the tide. When they realize they are drowning they call out for help. The Lifeguard who has always been there for people, hears him drowning, and comes and saves their life. God is the lifeguard saving those who admit their need for Him and repent.
• Calvinism is also like a swimmer caught out in the ocean by the tide, except this time ... they drown. The Lifeguard comes, rescues the victim from the sea and breathes new life into them. God is the lifeguard, saving those who cannot save themselves.
• Both these views have nuggets of truth in them. As Ephesians 2:8 says, "By grace you have been saved through faith." Both God's giving grace, and man's admission of trust/faith is needed for salvation. The order of how that happens is interpreted differently by the Armenian & Calvinist camps. 
• But ... I mean, just read Ephesians 1:4-5 for yourself! How can you be anything but completely amazed and humbled that God would specially adopt us into His family, not because we did anything, not because we said a sinner's prayer ... He did this before the world was even created and He did it for His good pleasure. Why didn't He adopt everyone? That's a good question and that's what Armenian's like to ask. But regardless of that question, we have to accept the truth from Ephesians 1:4-5 that God doesn't just know who's going to be Christians (foreknowledge), God chooses them Himself (predestination).  God calls us to know that we were called by Him
• APPLICATION: This fact (of God's preordaining of salvation) can bewilder and keep you up at night. I've gone back and forth on the train myself. This fact is made however to humble us, for us to be thankful to the God who "showered His kindness on us" (v. 8) when we didn't deserve it, a God who rescued us from ourselves.
• This fact can also make people mad outright. Angry. Flippantly opposed the fact that God would not equally and universally save all people or all religions or all things in the way they see fit. This is why the Church exists. Jacob literally wrestled with God and He was renamed "Israel" which means "wrestles with God." Israel became a people group known for following the one, true God. As Christians, we believe we are the new Israel, the fulfillment of all of God's promises. As we, the Church, are Israel, are Jacob, let us wrestle with God too, and not struggle through this truth that God predestined and adopted us into His family alone. 
• "when you believed in Christ He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom He promised long ago" (v. 13)
• Do you know for sure you're going to Heaven when you die? Because Paul says you can know for sure. The Holy Spirit is a seal, a promise, a sign that yes you are truly, really saved and God is doing a work in you. What does the work of the Holy Spirit look like in a believer? Galatians 5:22-25 says, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." That's what a spirit-filled life looks like. If your life looks like that because of your faith in God, you likely have the Holy Spirit and are saved and you should know where you're going when you die. And as v. 13 says, the moment you believed, really truly believed that Jesus Christ came from God and died and rose again for your sins, you became saved and were given the gift of the Holy Spirit in you. We don't need to live life in salvation limbo. God calls us to believe and know that we are saved and not to perpetually doubt our salvation
• APPLICATION: Sometimes I doubt that I'm a good enough Christian. That's okay. That's conviction of the Holy Spirit. That's meant to inspire me to be more Holy, not to depress me to fear that I'm damned. Let's not misinterpret the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. 
• Understanding Is Really, Really Important
• "He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding" (v. 8)
• "I pray for you constantly, asking God ... to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God" (v. 17)
• "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has give to those He called" (v. 18)
• "I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power" (v. 19)
• Wow. Recently I've been telling my youth (and myself) something important: none of what i'm doing in ministry is important unless they're truly loving God and loving others. Those two loves are the two most important commandments according to Jesus. If I'm not loving God and loving people then any worship I do, any doctorate I obtain, any suffering I do for the cause of Christ is completely useless (1 Cor 13:1-3). The focus and result of my preaching should be love above all else, and if its not then the purpose of my preaching needs to be altered.
• However, knowledge and understanding of God and His ways is important too. Sometimes we don't know how to love others and God effectively without more knowledge and understanding of God. It was Paul's hope and constant prayers (!) that the Church would be full of wisdom, insight, and knowledge from God. That's not a mistake. Paul's not saying love isn't the most important thing anymore. I think what He's saying is that knowledge has the power to change the way we love God and others. And that's really important. God calls us not just to love Him but to understand Him
• APPLICATION: It's okay for me to teach Scripture that's more knowledge-oriented than "love oriented" because seeking after God's knowledge and wisdom can be an act of love itself. And that knowledge can lead us towards how and why we love God as well. 
• "The Church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ who fills all things everywhere with Himself" (v. 23)
• This is a hard verse to interpret. 
• The NLT Study Bible team comments, "This difficult phrase probably means that the church, as his body, is the full expression of Christ in this world." 
• The ESV Study Bible team comments very similarly: "The church, filled by Christ, fills all creation as representatives of Christ."
• So, with this interpretation and Scripture in mind, we're given a stunning truth that God is calling us to know: As the Church we are THE way that Jesus is choosing to save the world ... amazing. We see this truth in other places too, that as Christians we are Christ's ambassadors (2 Cor 5:11, 18-20) given the task or persuading people to give their lives over to Christ and we can do this because the fullness of Christ dwells within us, His Church and body. God is calling us to step up in our responsibility of evangelism because we have Christ-indwelled confidence. 
• APPLICATION: Evangelism's hard. And awkward. Even and especially with people you know and people who know you all too well. But that's where evangelism is most effective. That's how disciples are made (and by the way, that's what Jesus wants us to make, disciples of longevity, not converts of happenstance). I need to be more aware and unashamed of living the gospel out in word and speech particularly with non-believing friends, family, and neighbors. They need to be saved. The Church (including me) is the fullness of Christ and is the only way to save them. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Am I going to sit on the farm of the world and watch crop upon crop grow, become unharvested and die? Or am I going to work the harvest and start being a little awkward and bring up what Jesus is really doing in my life at family gatherings. Am I going to invite my neighbors over for dinner? Am I going to be a Jesus ... freak at least a little more? I hope so.