The Big Ideas

    We reviewed the first three chapters of Ephesians on Tuesday, remembering all the big ideas that Paul has bombarded us with here at the beginning of this letter. I especially wanted to see the thread of the Church running through the discourse.
    In chapter 1 we learn that everything had been placed under Christs' authority and he was appointed head of the church--which is his body.
    In Chapter 2 Paul gets into our personal history; "as for you."  You were dead in your trespasses and sin. You used to live the same way. You are God's workmanship.... But still we have to remind yourselves this letter is to the Church at Ephesus. [More on that next week, right Kristen?] We collectively were sinners and have, individually it's true, been called to a collective good work within his body, the church. Paul makes it abundantly clear he had a supernatural calling to a revolutionary work given to him by direct revelation! How wild is that!
    Chapter 3 begins with the big one; Jews and Gentiles following God together, neither as Jews or Gentiles but as Christians. What a break with the past! When you read the book of Acts it is hard to imagine how those early believers were going to be able to do it, yet they were obedient to God and established churches throughout the Roman world. 
    Stott says "The major lesson taught by this first half of Ephesians 3 is the centrality of the church. Some people construct a Christianity which consists entirely of a personal relationship to Jesus Christ.... but we need to beware lest we despise the church of God and are blind to his work in history." pg 30
     There are so many big truths in Ephesians 1-3 and I was really encouraged by the sharing each of you did about those ideas impacting your own lives. In this next lesson, the second prayer, we are all going to be blown away again, this time by the Love of God. We all know God loves us. But Paul prays that we would be able to grasp the dimensions of it. I hope all of you get the chance to really look at the words Paul uses to describe God's love in this prayer and to enlarge your understanding of it. Even as he encourages us to know it, Paul acknowledges that it surpasses knowledge. 
     The Love of God is as big an idea as we can have, and hugely transforming as we continue to know and live by it.