Ephesians: A Love Letter from Heaven

Ephesians, written by the apostle Paul, may not strike you as a love letter. Perhaps its most famous teaching is on the Armor of God. But as I read Ephesians, I couldn't help but feel God's love as He reveals more about Himself and His plan for us as His children. What should've taken me a day to read took three, because this short book is full of incredible revelations. So, without further delay, let's get into the first of several posts from the Book of Ephesians.

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Chosen

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him." Ephesians 1:3-10

• The opening of Ephesians starts off strong by revealing God's plan for humanity and referencing the love and grace He has for us that He would reveal the mystery of Himself to us; that He would desire to become one with us in Christ.

• Man is not God's only creation, but we are His greatest creation. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing--the greatest of which is access to Him through His Holy Spirit. How much love must He have for us to give us a direct line to Him, to guide us by His Spirit, to make us holy and blameless? We are not holy and blameless, but in His eyes, we are. Our Father in Heaven sees us with loving eyes.

• God did not figure things out as He went. He had a plan from the beginning and we were always part of His plan. God always intended for mankind to be His perfect, holy, blameless, loved, chosen, and enlightened family. Christ's sacrifice and the guidance of the Holy Spirit are part of His plan / process of attaining relationship with us. Is it fair to say it's always been about us? How loved are we?

• The phrase "according to His good pleasure" is repeated throughout this passage, reminding us that God wants to love us. He wants relationship with us. He wants us as His family. Everything He has done is because He wants us.

Delivered

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted oursleves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:1-7

• From the scripture above, we see that God is full of mercy and love. He loves us so much He will never turn His back on us. He grants us new life.

• It is revealed that we have not seen all the riches of His grace. There is more to be revealed to us in the ages to come (eternal life in Heaven). How exciting is that?

A Note on Predestination & Free Will

• I could not help but think about predesintation and free will as I read Ephesians. We see that we are predestined to adoption by God through Christ, yet we also see that there are sons of disobedience and we, before knowing and accepting Christ, were among them.

• My take is that, we are free to choose whether to follow Christ and become a part of God's family or not. God knows who will make that choice, and those who will eventually make that choice, were always His in His eyes. He always had a plan for us. He was always with us.

• Perhaps the same can be said for everyone. Unlike the times before Christ, God is in the business of pursuit. Christ was sent to reconcile all things to Himself, to make a way to the Father for all people. I believe God is with us all until death separates us. Death only separates those who have not accepted Christ as Christ's death serves as our own.

"...If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:20-24

• God not only grants us eternal life in Heaven, He offers us newness of life here on earth through the truth of His Word, Jesus Christ.

• God choosing to reveal Himself and His truth to us, to open our eyes to the devil's deceit, to offer us freedom from the bondage of sin makes me feel loved. God didn't have to do any of this. He didn't have to create us. Nor did He have to continue pursuing us after the devil corrupted us. God is the example of true love: a love that is kind, patient, forgiving, and persevering. He is the standard for all love.

At One

"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity." Ephesians 2:14-16

• Through Jesus, we are made one with God and with each other. This passage of scripture speaks about the two factions of believers at the time--the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul seeks to remind the reader that nothing separates us when we are in Christ. We are all one in Christ--one people. And as a whole, with Christ, we make up one body--the body of God.

"...Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Ephesians 2:20-22

• This scripture further speaks to us (God's children) serving as His dwelling place here on earth. His Spirit dwells inside us. And through us, God still walks the earth today. How much does He loves us that He would give us this privilege, power, and authority?

• As vessels of His Holy Spirit, we have power and authority over Satan and his demons. The power of Christ lives in us.

• The temple of the Lord is still being built. With each new believer that comes to the Father through Christ, God's body is expanded both in this lifetime and in the ages to come.

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ--from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:11-16

• Paul reveals the calling placed on God's people, to share their enlightenment with others, to share the gospel of the truth of Jesus. This is a calling for us all, not just those with the title of pastor. How much love does God have for His people that He supplies the Spirit of Truth, that we all may know Him?

• God desires to tell us the truth, so that we will not be deceived by the deciever. This is an act of love.

• The above passage reminds us of the oneness of the body of Christ and that we all have a role within the body of Christ. Think of your own body. Is there a single thing that does not serve a purpose? How loved are we that God has given us access to Him, newness of life, calling, and purpose within Him?

"For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones." Ephesians 5:30

• This is one of the scriptures that stood out to me the most in Ephesians. We are reminded that we are God's body. We are one with Him and for Him. What an honor it is? Both in a spiritual and physical sense, we are God's home here on earth, which should be telling as to why the devil tries to get us to hate ourselves and our bodies so much. The enemy attacks us in flesh and in Spirit so as to attack the Spirit inside us. But once we learn how to access the Spirit inside us, it's game over for Satan and he knows it.

Access

"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." Ephesians 2:18

• Paul reminds us that through Christ Jesus, we have access to the Father. We share the Holy Spirit, the essence linking God, the Father, Jesus Christ, the Son, and mankind, the family of first-fruits, the body of Christ, the temple of the Lord.

Enlightened

"To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church..." Ephesians 3:8-10

• This passage reminds us that there was a time when God hid Himself and the truth of Jesus, the truth of what would be, from the world. While we cannot know His purpose, we can trust He had good reason to reveal Himself slowly over time. How loved are we that God always intended to reveal Himself and that we get to exist in the time where the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the Father, the mystery of mankind is no longer such a mystery?

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19

• We know that the Bible is God's Word as the apostles were embodied by His Spirit. Therefore we know that God's intention is this: for us to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit that Christ may dwell inside us, that we may know the love of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, and be filled with the fullness of God. God seeks to fill us with His fullness. Fullness means He desires to withhold nothing good from us.

Loved

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27

• This is the passage that made me pause. This is the passage that made Ephesians truly read like a love letter from God.

• We often get caught up on the directive to husbands that we miss the love of Christ--the love of the Father--presented in Ephesians 5:25-27. Jesus Christ seeks to cleanse us with His truth, "with the washing of water by the word" that we might be His glorious bride. How utterly romantic is that?

• Jesus didn't only die for us centuries ago. He is still working in us today, because He still loves us. He still chooses us.

• While there was a time when the idea of cleansing all impurity would've made me cringe and roll my eyes, that was a time when I didn't know God. I didn't feel His love. I was living under the lies of the enemy, not the truth of the Father and the Son's love for me. Now that I know the truth, I welcome the cleansing. And I think it's beautiful that He cares enough to do it. God cares enough about us to give us chance after chance. Jesus cares enough about us to love us through every circumstance.

"So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones." Ephesians 5:28-30

• The Lord not only loves us. He nourishes and cherishes us.

• When I think of nourishment, I think of a mother feeding a newborn baby. Every ounce of milk is essential for growth and cognitive development. The Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ views our nourishment through His Word as a tender, emotional, loving, and essential daily activity.

• When I think of being cherished, I think of a husband kissing his wife's forehead, shoulder, or temple. He touches the simple places--the places others might not notice, the places that don't give him any physical pleasure, but shower her with love and affection. I think of being held gently. I think of intentional conversation--a man who never runs out of time for me.

• God cherishes in this very way by paying attention to the little things, by showering us with affection that satisfies us, and by never tiring of us. Perhaps that is the easiest way to sum up the Lord's love for us. He never tires in His pursuit of us, in His care for us, in His love for us.