Author: Danny Panter

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 4:1-6 (day six)

For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. Ephesians 4:4-6

What God was doing in the Church was revolutionary. Nowhere else on the planet could men, women, children, slaves, Jews, and Gentiles come together as equals. God created a new multi-ethnic family not defined by social class, gender, ethnicity, or even age but by Jesus.

No one had seen anything like it. Ever. Not only was the diversity of this assembly revolutionary, but more so was how they related to one another. Pride and power were exchanged for humility and gentleness. Division and control were exchanged for unity and patience. There was belonging instead of fear and autonomy. They began to live together at the speed of Jesus.

Now, that’s a revolution.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:14-21 (day six)

This is Paul’s second prayer in this letter. Paul pauses to pray, “For this reason.” (3:14) Paul uses that phrase twice in the preceding verses. So, what’s the reason? He has two that I see. First, he prays because of his unique calling to bring the good news to Gentiles; he feels responsible for them. Second, he prays because of the mystery that has been revealed in Jesus, that God is recreating a multi-ethnic family of Jews and Gentiles. The bigness of God’s plan inspires Paul to pray.

What inspires you to pray? God wants us to pray in the small things, but he also desires us to pray because of the big things

Your Kingdom Come.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:1-13 (day six)

God’s grace is not limited to forgiveness but travels into everyday life. In Christ, grace can bring about real-life transformation from one life to the next. That is Paul’s objective when he describes his life in Christ as a prisoner and servant. He wants the Ephesians to know that God does not play around. The grace of God in Jesus is not a fashion trend to take out on the occasional spin. We don’t move grace around; grace moves us. Paul’s life was a living testimony of what the grace of God can do through him in others.

We are the beneficiaries of the very same grace.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 2:19-22 (day six)

⁴⁴ Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. ⁴⁵ The Jewish believers^[e]who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in other tongues^[f] and praising God. Acts 10:44-46

There was a great concern among Christians in Ephesus that they weren’t family but instead second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom. Paul’s letter had to have been a relief, “You aren’t strangers anymore; you are first-class citizens with all the rights and privileges.” What the law had kept separate, Jesus brought together. Jews and Gentiles together had become God’s dwelling place in the world, a new humanity in Christ. What a miracle?! What a responsibility?!

And come to find out, that had been God’s plan all along.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 2:8-10 (day six).

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. Ephesians 2:1 (NLT)

Once is a pregnant word, full of history yet firmly in the present.  It is a whole story wrapped up in one word. In the case of Ephesians 2:1-10, it is the beginning of the greatest story ever told.

The story of Ephesians 2:1-10 is the greatest story ever told because of its divine intervention. The ending is so improbable that you would never have guessed it if you didn’t already know it. The distance between ‘once’ and the end is so vast that only an act of God could have connected the two.

Once is the start of our story, too. The only reason we have a “once” in our story is because God gave us a new present with a future promise in Christ. Does that not put a smile on your face?

Be thankful for divine interventions that completely and impossibly change our trajectory!

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 1:15-23(day six)

Yesterday’s discovery must be sought anew today. Yesterday’s rich are today’s poor, and only as the poor will they become rich again. –Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Ephesians

We never graduate from the blessings in Ephesians 1:3-14; we never move onto something more or more profound or more fulfilling. Every day, we return to the deep, satisfying well of what God accomplished in Christ.

This is how Paul prays for the church (for us): that we would see and know to our bones that God has already provided all we need to grow up in Jesus, to experience his power. We have only to return to it each day.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 1:3-12(day six)

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus,^[a] who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. ² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Ephesians 1:1-2

From what we know about Ephesians, it was a letter Paul sent to several churches. This is important for a few reasons. First, it means Paul did not write this letter to address specific problems, questions, or concerns (like 1 Corinthians or Galatians). This allows Paul to describe what it looks like for a church to grow up in Christ. Second, it means this letter is for us (FBCSA) in ways his other letters are not. From the very moment Paul began to write Ephesians, he intended it to be received by many existing churches, and by God’s grace and providence, it has come to us.

So, when we read Ephesians, we have every reason to take it personally. It encourages and challenges us to grow up in Jesus!