Ephesians 3- Andy's thoughts

Mysterious Plan and Mysterious Words
I think that at first reading the beginning of this chapter may be a little difficult to follow. Basically, Paul is telling this church that it is not weird that there are Gentiles in a community that was founded by Jews. In fact, it was always part of the plan of God to include the Gentiles into the family of God.

As I said in my last post, there is a very common human tendency to identify and ostracize “the other.” The other is the person or group of people who are not originally a part of our community. We find ways to recognize them and find fault with them. The bennies add to our traffic, the immigrants take our jobs, the newcomers get all the attention (that I used to get).

This is not new to our day. In Paul’s time the Jews had a very negative attitude toward their “other” whom they called the goyim. While this word in Hebrew literally meant “nations” it referred to the non-Jews whom we call the Gentiles. It was also used as a slang term meaning dogs. The Jews were calling these goyim “dogs.”

So in that time, the Jews believed themselves to be the exclusive recipients of God’s love and mercy. It was quite a shock to see God being gracious to these “dogs.” But that is the beauty of the grace of our Lord. God’s plan was not to limit his love just to one nation. His plan was to reach all the nations (goyim). What Paul is saying in these first few paragraphs is that those who were once “the other” are now our “brother.”

The reaction of the religious establishment of the Jews was to utterly freak out. So the Jewish officials had Paul arrested. They did not condone his preaching of grace to the Gentiles and so they used the Gentile government to have Paul put in chains. How telling that some people can so hate a people group and yet still be willing to use them to serve their sinister purposes. How awesome that God can love a people group that he can use them to serve his gracious purposes.

In the end, Paul encourages the Ephesian church not to worry that he is in chains. They had seen him face persecution and arrest before (when he upset the Ephesian merchants who made Artemis merchandise). I am encouraged by Paul’s contentment in the midst of unjust persecution. I believe it is because he knew that he was able to do good work even in bad circumstances.

A Prayer of Love
The first chapter had a great prayer that we can pray for others. I think that this chapter also has a great prayer that we can pray for others but also for ourselves. “I pray that you are being rooted and grounded in love.” I think we should pause to reflect on that phrase for a while. In our self help and self improvement era, we are bombarded with messages that we need to know some new thing or skill. I think this verse harkens us back to the fundamentals. We ought to be rooted and grounded in love.

So I pause to wonder what that would mean and what that would look like. I think it may include things like- praying to be filled with a heart of love before engaging in a difficult conversation, imagining the best for not only our friends but also for our enemies and those who make our lives unnecessarily difficult, coming to God in a spirit of appreciation and wonder instead of whininess and wantiness.

I think that we can do this if we also pray, as Paul prays, that we would have the power to comprehend the vast extent of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. I think that this includes not only having the eyes to see how much Christ loves us but also how much Christ loves “the other.”

Benediction
At the end of our Sunday worship services we give what is called a “benediction.” This comes from the Latin roots of bene- meaning good, and dicto- meaning word or saying. We want people to leave the corporate worship time with a good word from God’s Word. This chapter has one of the best benedictions.

The last paragraph is so powerful in that it gives God the honor that is due his name and gives us hope because that same God is at work in us. And I especially like that Paul says that this is true not just for the believers of his day 2,000 years ago. He says that this blessing is for all generations. That includes us right now in good ol’ 2010.

Application:
Let us pray this prayer for ourselves today. Let us pray that we be rooted and grounded in love and that we would have the eyes to behold the vast extent of the love of Christ.