Paul, as we have previously seen, regarded all of his life as being under the sovereign control of Christ, so he could recognise that there was a purpose even in his imprisonment (see 3:1). He was a prisoner ‘’of Christ Jesus’’ (3:1), and ‘’for the Lord’’ (4:1). His entire life, whether in good experiences or bad, was about Jesus.
There is urgency about living godly lives in this world: ‘’I urge you…’’ (1). At this point we move into the practical section of the letter where Paul is encouraging the Christians to apply all of this great doctrine in everyday life. Truth is to be lived-out. Sermons are to walk out of church in many pairs of shoes. Belief has got to get into your feet. The Authorised Version of the Bible talks about walking worthily of our calling. As someone pointed out, there is nothing spectacular about walking. It’s just putting one foot in front of the other and moving in the right direction.
We tend to read these New Testament letters personally, and it is right to consider how we, as individual Christians, can live lives that please and glorify God. As we go through the practical section, we will come across things that we must apply to our personal (and even private) lives. But never forget that the letters were written to groups of Christians. In looking at this section you have to bear in mind all that has gone before in ‘Ephesians.’ Jews and Gentiles have been brought into a new,united community in Christ. The old hostility and divisions have been removed. So in these verses Paul exhorts the church to be the church. The church is ‘’one body’’ (4). There is a ‘’unity’’ (3) in the church that is already given by ‘’the Spirit’’. But we Christians have an urgent responsibility to ‘’Make every effort…’’ to maintain this unity. Like in a marriage, where two become one, everyday there has to be work to express that oneness. Total humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, love – these qualities oil the wheels of a marriage. They also enable Christian brothers and sisters to live out their God-given unity, even though as people they may be so different. One of the main reasons why the Christian community doesn’t always look like the united ‘body’ God has made it to be is down to the level of our ‘effort.’ We have to continually work at being the church God is calling us to be. When we live together humbly, gently, patiently, with forbearance and love, we live lives worthy of our calling.
In verses 4 to 6, Paul makes reference to the triune God: ‘’…one Spirit…one Lord…one God and Father…’’ The unity the church is called to is like the unity in the Trinity. It is a unity in diversity. Yet it is a unity of complete harmony. As we will see in the next study, we are all so different, and that’s a good thing. But although we may bring a variety of gifts to the table, we are one people in Christ. God wants that to be obvious to the world, and it will be an utterly compelling reality (John 17:20-23). A united church is a powerful evangelistic argument in itself.
Prayer: Loving Lord Jesus, I can see that the unity of your church means so much to you. You bled and died for it. May that unity never be damaged or broken at my hands. As far as it lies within me to do so, I want to live at peace with every other person in your church. This is my desire. Please give me your grace to be a unifying member of the body of Christ.
’God’s promises should become our prayers.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.490.
Isaiah had seen a glorious vision of the restored city of Jerusalem (Chapter 60). As we have seen, this was a multi-layered vision. It had to do with the literal restoration of the city and its re-population after exile and captivity. But Isaiah was also seeing the Messianic age: the coming of Jesus and the growth and witness of His church. In addition, he was catching a glimpse of the ultimate ‘golden era’ when Jesus comes to the earth a second time, and His Kingdom is established in all its fullness.(For example, verses 8 and 9 clearly await a still future fulfilment.)
The question is, ‘What will fill the gap between the vision and the reality?’ ‘What will bring this great picture of the future to pass?’ The answer is: ‘Prayer will; persistent, persevering prayer is what is required.’ (See Luke 18:1-8). Isaiah himself was committed to being a praying man who would put his own shoulder to the wheel of intercession to help to bring this about (1). (Note that preachers must also be people of prayer if their messages are to be effective.) But the prophet could see that God was calling others to join with him in ceaseless, fervent, untiring intercession (6, 7). F.B. Meyer sees in these verses an echo of Christ’s unceasing intercession for us: ‘’…He ever lives to intercede for us, praying when we are silent, watching when we sleep…His prayer rises for his people night and day. Perhaps they would not pray for themselves, if his intercessions did not incite. Certainly his sifted Simons would drift beyond hope, if He did not pray for them…The prayers of Jesus hover over the world like the dove over the weltering chaos of creation.’’
What will cause the church to arise and shine brilliantly as she is intended to? (1). What will bring many people to this light? (2). What will bring about church growth on a large scale? (4, 12). What will cause God’s people to be known in this world as the bride of Christ; forgiven and reconciled to Him? (4, 5). What will ‘’Remove the stones’’ or ‘’Clear the debris’’ as The Message puts it? (10). What will clear the way for progress? Prayer is the answer to all these questions. There is a need for committed and continual prayer. On New Year’s Day 2015 the challenge is, ‘Will you enlist in this army of untiring pray-ers to see the church become all the Lord wants her to be? Will you take your stand where God ‘posts’ you on the ‘’walls’’ (6) ‘’till’ He makes His church everything He wants her to be? The church cannot stand in this world if its members are not kneeling. We cannot shine in public unless we are seeking in private. When will the head knowledge of this truth start to affect our lives? In what year will it begin to fill our prayer meetings and affect our personal lives? How about this new one?!!
‘’I’ve posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out, reminding GOD to remember. They are to give him no peace until he does what he said…’’ The Message.
Prayer: I am turning up for duty dear Lord. I want to enlist. Please enrol me in your prayer army.
We have seen that these verses relate to the restoration of Jerusalem following the exile in Babylon, and to the transformation of people and their spiritual flourishing under the anointed ministry of the Messiah. So both an immediate and a long-term fulfilment are woven together in these verses. It remains true that those transformed by the Messiah, Jesus (1-3) become society’s transformers (4). ‘’They…’’ who have been worked on by God go to work on a broken world in His power. They are called and equipped to be difference-makers. Verse 4 describes a situation of profound brokenness. Change seems totally unlikely. But the transformations God brings about through His people are nothing less than miraculous. If God wasn’t in it, such devastation would never be overcome. God must first do a work in us (1-3) before He can do a work through us (4-11)
Here is a message for New Year’s Eve: God is the God of new beginnings. He gives fresh starts. Even if you feel you’ve made a mess of your life, and you are surrounded by ruin and devastation of your own making, things can change. The same applies if others have been responsible for the damage: ‘’They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new.’’ The Message. God has shown that He rebuilds cities; He rebuilds nations; and He rebuilds people;He rebuilds lives. What a turnaround the Jewish people were to experience in their fortunes. Verse 9 has certainly come to pass historically (even if there is still a greater fulfilment to come): ‘’Your descendants will become well-known all over. Your children in foreign countries will be recognized at once as the people I have blessed.’’ The Message. It is perhaps a great irony that a people so obviously blessed as the Jews, should also be so repeatedly and ruthlessly persecuted. Maybe, in part, envy over their blessing has caused this? Verse 6b reminds us that God owns all the wealth in the world, and He can get it to His ‘children in need.’ He knows where they are, and He knows where it is! He can get the two together!!
There is a breadth of vision here; a world vision (5, 6, 9, and 11). God is going to do a work in and through His people, and, ultimately, in and through the Messiah, that will affect the entire world. In (10, 11) Jerusalem herself ‘speaks’. Using figurative language, Isaiah describes how this city (Zion) will be clothed with ‘’salvation’’ and ‘’righteousness’’. The Lord will make His people grow like plants in a garden, and do such a work in them that ‘’all nations’’ will be affected for good. (See Genesis 12:3). We don’t save ourselves. Salvation – the gift of a right standing with God – comes from God. It is all His doing and for His glory. God dresses His people up in clothes of salvation and right living God’s purpose in choosing one man, Abraham, to become one nation, Israel, was so that through this nation the Messiah would come and bless the whole world. What a plan!
‘’I will sing for joy in GOD, explode in praise from deep in my soul! He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jewelled tiara.’’ The Message. What a way this is to ‘see out the old’ and ‘ring in the new’ – with an explosion of worship!
By the way, the blessing of God is an evident thing. People can see it in a human life (9b). They can even ‘smell’ it. So here is a prayer as we stand on the verge of a new year. It’s a line from a hymn by one of the early leaders of the Pentecostal movement. The hymn is: ‘’Move me, dear Lord, and others I shall move, to do thy will.’’ Here’s the line I have in mind…
Prayer: ‘’Under the anointing daily let me live…’’
This glorious chapter describes the restoration of ‘’Zion’’ (14). We need to interpret it on at least three levels: a.) it refers to the restoration of Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile; b.) it speaks about Christ’s shining church in this present age; a divinely illuminated community filled with people, provision and power; c.) much of the prophecy (especially verses 15-22) will only be fulfilled when Jesus comes again and establishes His Messianic Kingdom in its fullness (e.g. verses 19 and 20 – see Revelation 21:23 and 22:5; 21:4, 27). ‘’You’ll name your main street Salvation Way, and install Praise Park at the centre of town.’’ The Message. What a day that will be!
Thinking about the church in the present age, there are a number of points to note. Some years ago, I believe God led me to this chapter, and Saturday night by Saturday night, as I was preparing for Sunday, I prayed through its contents. I got ‘stuck’ here for a while, and I believe it was God’s intention that I should. It was a wonderful spot to camp out on. God’s church will be full of light (1-3); it will be filled with people and provision (4-9), authority (12) and victory (14). Jesus is building a church that is ‘’open’’ to the outsider (11): outward – looking and always ready to receive new people. ‘’Your Jerusalem gates will always be open – open house day and night!’’ The Message. (Ultimately, Jesus is that open ‘’gate’’: John 10:7)The church will be a community composed of Jewish (4) and Gentile people (10a; see also Acts 15:14-16; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5). (By the way, the coming of the magi from the east to visit Jesus resonates with the early part of this chapter. Think also about Psalm 72: 10, 11 and 15, and the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon.)
This world is a ‘dark’ place, and 2014 feels like one of the darkest years I have lived through. What is the church’s responsibility in such an atmosphere (2a)? It is to ‘’Arise, shine…’’ (1); to be that ‘’city on a hill’’ that ‘’cannot be hidden’’ (Matthew 5:14). This is the divinely appointed answer for a world shrouded in deep darkness. But our light is not our own; we shine with ‘’the glory of the Lord’’ (1, 2; see also 9b, 13b and 21b). The church is like the moon: ‘’the lesser light to govern the night.’’ (Genesis 1:16). We do not shine with our own inherent light. We reflect the rays of ‘’the greater light’’ – the Lord Himself who is our Sun (19, 20). When the church is most true to her calling; true to herself; and when she shines like God Himself because of her relationship with Him, crowds of people from all across the globe will flock trough her ever open gates (11). There will also be the arrival of abundant provision so that the church can fulfil her true calling. ‘’God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.’’ Hudson Taylor. The word ‘’but’’ (2b) draws attention to the fact that God has put a clear distinction between the church and the world, and people in the world should be able to see it. The church is most attractive when she is most counter-cultural.
‘’Whenever the glory of the Lord rises upon thee, be sure to reflect it. Arise, shine! Arise, to catch as much of it as possible. Shine, that others may catch as much as possible also…Sometimes Christians seek release from their positions in business or social life, on the plea that they are uncongenial and ungodly. Yet these are the very circumstances under which Zion is bidden to arise and shine. The darker the staircase, the more need of the candle.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.291.
Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for giving us the privilege to shine in this dark world. Thank you that in you our lives have meaning and purpose.
Ponder and remember! (2, 4)
We can’t see it in our English translations of the Bible, but this is an acrostic poem. Each line begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is a song of praise to God for His faithfulness to His covenant people. The psalmist shows that what God says He also does. His Words and His Works always go together. We Christians know this even better than the ancient Israelites. How thankful we should be.
With Christmas day now over for another year, we will start to turn our attention to the next 365 days and thoughts of what they may hold. Before doing that, however, why not take some time during the next week to ponder and remember? Look in the ‘rear view mirror’. Think about what God has done in your life during the past year. In fact, you might like to deliberately set aside some time to mentally work your way through the now disappearing twelve month period and thank God for specific blessings. When you try to ‘’count’’ them and ‘’name them one by one’’ you will find that you are genuinely ‘surprised’ at what the Lord has done. Think about it and thank Him for it! Remember the wonderful miracles He has done (2-4a; 7a); His manifestations of power (6). Consider His generous provision (5a), giving you far more than you could ask or imagine (6b). Think about what His faithful truth has meant to you (7b, 10). Rejoice in His covenant (5b), meditating on the redemptive sacrifice at the heart of it (9). As you look back, and turn all this over in your mind, your heart will surely burn, and you will give your God fervent praise (1, 10) and revere His ‘’awesome’’ (9b) Name. (See also 10). This year may have had its ‘ups and downs’. Most of them do. But as you reflect, you will surely come to the conclusion that God has been so good to you. That’s how I feel anyway, and I’m deeply grateful.
Here are some words from this psalm as found in The Message. (If you get chance to read the entire psalm in this modern version of the Bible you will almost certainly find it rewarding to do so.)
‘’Hallelujah! I give thanks to GOD with everything I’ve got – Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation. GOD’s works are so great, worth A lifetime of study – endless enjoyment! Splendour and beauty mark his craft; His generosity never gives out. His miracles are his memorial – This GOD of Grace, this GOD of Love…All his products are guaranteed to last…’’
‘’Probably this will be our employment in eternity; ever passing into deeper and fuller appreciation of the works of God, and breaking into more rapturous songs.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.235.
‘’…the unmerited grace and passionate love which flowed out first in redemption, brought the Lord’s people within the embrace of his covenant where they experience his providential care in daily needs, his power over all the power of their enemies, and his word by which they live.’’ J.A. Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.561.
Prayer: Thank you so much for the blessing of belonging to your covenant people; for redemption with all it means; and for your constant care and power at work in my life.
What a text for Christmas day! It speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and resonates with the Christmas story, which tells how the Father God sent His Son into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit, who did a miraculous and marvellous thing, causing a baby to be conceived by a virgin. That was something way beyond what anyone could ‘’ask or imagine’’ and it has indeed brought glory to God ‘’in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations’’. It continues to do so and will ‘’for ever and ever! Amen.’’ (See 20, 21). If the mystery and wonder of the Christmas story doesn’t get you on your knees (14) in prayerful adoration, I wonder what will?
Today, we remember that God has a ‘’family in heaven and on earth’’ (15), and we thankfully carry in our hearts those who are experiencing the reality that we only dimly realise in our Christmas celebrations here. They see His face (Revelation 22:4).
It also speaks of the ‘’deep, deep love of Jesus’’ (17-19), and I am reminded that ‘’Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas…’’ Christina Rosetti. God wants us to ‘’know this love’’ (19) even though it is beyond full knowledge. But we do know things about God’s love. We see what it looks like. It looks like Jesus. Would Jesus ever pass by a need that He could meet? Would He fail to give to anyone requiring His help? A self-indulgent Christmas that pulls up the drawbridge and closes out others is ultimately disappointing and self-defeating. I know this for, I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been there. I now realise that we cannot celebrate the coming down of love at Christmas without also sharing it. ‘’Love divine, all loves excelling…Fix in us thy humble dwelling…’’ Charles Wesley.
I also realise that for us, Christmas and New Year walk hand in hand. We move seamlessly from the one into the other. We do not know what lies ahead, whether good or bad, but we do know that the same Spirit who made the incarnation possible will strengthen us inwardly for whatever lies ahead (16).
The Christ who came down at Christmas wants to ‘’dwell’’ in hearts by ‘’faith’’ (17). The challenge of the Christmas message is, ‘Will we make room for Him there?’ Or will there be ‘No room’? It’s the abiding, provocative issue raised by this season. The world wants to go to Jesus’ birthday party (in fact, they want to run it; be in charge of proceedings.) But they don’t want Him there. He’d ruin it. Keep Him out back in the cold! It’s a great irony. We see it all around us if we have eyes to see. ‘Christmas begins with Christ.’ But for many people Christmas would not be Christmas for them without Christ being removed. (I understand that the meaning of verse 17 is: ‘’so that Christ may feel at home in your hearts…’’. Will Jesus ‘feel at home’ with the way we are living this Christmas time? And how about every other day of the year? The Holy Spirit has come to enable us to live lives that Christ will feel at home in. See verses 16 and 17a.)
Returning to the thought of (20, 21) once again, here’s a question for Christmas day 2014: ‘’He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’’ (Romans 8:32). David Hill was a missionary to China. David Hill’s father said, ‘’The greatest gift I gave to China was David Hill. After that, everything else was easy.’’
Prayer: Thank you Father God for this most wonderful day. Help me to honour your Son, Jesus, in all I do this day, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Be pleased with my celebration of your birth.
The first thing to strike me in this chapter is the realisation that Paul did not see himself as a prisoner of Rome but ‘’of Christ Jesus’’ (1). He was so aware of the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ over all his life that he knew there was no accident about his current circumstances. He also saw that his suffering was not pointless but purposeful: ‘’for the sake of you Gentiles.’’ God would bring good out of bad. (See also 13). His ministry was not about him, but it was for others (2). ‘’This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ.’’ The Message.
The thought of what God was doing in the church (2:11-22) gave Paul cause to pray: ‘’For this reason…’’ (1). But then he didn’t get round to the prayer for another several verses (14). We too can know what Paul knew, that through Jesus we have free and confident access to God in prayer. So verses 2-13 are in ‘brackets’. Paul was slightly distracted and began to write about the ministry God had entrusted to him to bring Gentiles into the same church community as Jews. Verse 6 is a summary of chapter 2:11-22. Paul saw his ministry as being totally due to the ‘’grace’’ of God (2 and 7). It was not something he deserved (8). There was a genuine humility about Paul, and he recognised he was completely dependent on God’s ‘’power’’ (7) and that his ministry was a sacred trust. He was ‘’a servant of this gospel’’ (7), and it was a ‘’gift’’ to be able to serve. ‘’ I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.’’ The Message. The content of his ministry was a ‘’mystery’’ (4, 6 and 9). This does not mean something closed but something wide open – an ‘open secret’, now revealed by the Holy Spirit. It’s about how God is shaping ‘’one body’’ centred in Christ (11) and comprising Jewish and Gentile believers in Him. Paul’s ministry was primarily about preaching the gospel to the Gentiles so that they could come into God’s new society. ‘’I got the inside story on this from God himself…The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.’’ The Message.
The church God is building on Christ is ‘Exhibit A’ of God’s ‘’manifold wisdom’’ (10). I once heard that this can mean God’s ‘many coloured’ wisdom. That seems significant when you think that God is building a multi-ethnic; multi-cultural community in Christ. Whether ‘’the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms’’ (10) are angels or demons or both, is not clear. But certainly in the church spiritual beings see a demonstration of God’s immense wisdom. ‘’Through Christians like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!’’ The Message.
Prayer: Thank you Lord that I am included in your plan, and that I have been brought into your new society. I am amazed at your goodness and grace.
As we saw yesterday, God’s judging work would prepare the way for what Derek Kidner calls a ‘’kingdom of converts.’’ We can be judged for our sins, or we can repent and be forgiven. We get to choose (20).
God’s Spirit and His Word go together. There cannot be a genuine work of the Holy Spirit that dismisses or undermines the importance of the Bible. In a truly Pentecostal or Charismatic church, God’s Word will be honoured and taken seriously. The Scriptures will be searched. They will be faithfully, meticulously and systematically taught.
As a prophet of God, Isaiah was speaking Spirit inspired words. Here God gives him the encouragement that these words will be repeated by his ‘’children’’ and ‘’their descendants from this time on and for ever.’’ (21). There will be an enduring impact.
God’s Word should be in our ‘’mouths’’. We need to speak it to ourselves and to others. It is important to speak in line with it and according to it; to allow God’s wonderful Book to shape our speech. ‘’We must receive the Holy Spirit, and we must utter the words which He puts into our lips.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible, p.291. Meyer goes on to quote Acts 2:4: ‘’All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak…’’ I heard a preacher say that when a bath gets full, the water goes out through a hole called an ‘overflow’. He went on to say that we are all fitted with an ‘overflow’. It’s a little hole beneath the nose called a ‘mouth’. He argued that if you work your way through the book of Acts you will find that when anyone got filled with the Holy Spirit, they overflowed, in some way, through the mouth.
‘’Here God gives His people two great covenant gifts, His Spirit and His words, and they will not depart from His people. These two gifts are given to us today – through Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift of all.’’
‘’In verse 21, God says His Spirit and His words will not depart from the people’s mouth (see Joshua 1:8). Neither will they depart from the people’s hearts, because the new covenant will be written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Heart and mouth go together; the mouth expresses what flows from the heart (Matthew 12:34; 15:18; Romans 10:9-10).’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1064.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for your mercy to the genuinely repentant. Thank you too for the gift of your Spirit and your Word, showing us a new direction to walk in, and giving us the power to do so.
Ephesians 2:1-10
We have to remember that when Paul wrote his letters he did not use chapter or verse divisions. These were added later to help us find our way around the Bible. So Paul’s flow of thought continues on from what we have seen at the end of chapter 1. The power available to the church is essentially the same power that lifted Jesus out of a graveyard and placed Him on the throne of the universe. That is some strength, and our first encounter with it occurred when God sovereignly and graciously moved in our lives to bring us to life out of a state of spiritual death. We actually shared Christ’s resurrection, and that is one way of looking at Christian conversion (John 5:24). We ‘’were dead’’ (1, 5) but that is now past tense. God ‘’made us alive with Christ…raised us up with Christ…’’ (5, 6). The ‘’But God’’ at the heart of this passage has been called ‘’a mighty adversative’’. The big change hinges on this. God has graciously and mercifully and lovingly and kindly stepped in to rescue us from our spiritual enemies (4, 5, 7, and 8). Mercy and grace have been defined like this: ‘’God, in His mercy, does not give us what we do deserve; and God, in His grace, gives us what we do not deserve.’’ Everyone who belongs to Christ can truthfully say, ‘I am what I am by the grace of God. I was stone cold dead and deserved to stay dead. But the Lord came to my tomb, just like He turned up at Lazarus’s, and He called me out into life and daylight.’ (You will see how Paul hammers the point that it is God’s ‘’grace’’ that lies behind this miracle.)
So who are these spiritual enemies who hold us in a vice-like grip until Jesus rescues us? They are the world, the flesh (i.e. the sinful nature) and the devil. All three are mentioned in ( 1-3). I heard a story about a robbery that took place involving three people. During the day, one of them managed to secrete himself away inside the target premises. At night, when everyone else had gone home, he just opened the door and let his two accomplices in, and together they made off with the valuables! Sin is an ‘inside job’. The sinful nature, on the inside, opens up the entryway when the devil comes knocking, using the world as bait. We are sinners by nature and practice, and therefore we are spiritually dead in the sense of Ephesians 4: 18: ‘’separated from the life of God’’. Sin brings death. We are born in sin, and what we are by nature we quickly become by choice. So we need to be rescued by God because only He can provide a resurrection, and nothing other than resurrection life will do. So, we can say:
• We have evacuated the grave with Jesus
• We are enthroned with Jesus (6). Just think, if we are in Jesus and sharing His throne, the devil and all demonic powers are beneath our feet too (1:21ff.)
• We are exhibits for Jesus (7), displaying the kindness of God. It’s interesting that the ‘’we are God’s workmanship’’ of (10) literally means God’s ‘masterpieces’; we are His works of art. The painting does not glorify itself. People admire the painting but rightly give all the credit and praise to the artist.
What a remarkable change in our personal situations. When you live under the strong influence of the world, the flesh and the devil, you live a ‘’dead’’ life of sin, and so you are under the ‘’wrath’’ of God (3b). You are destined to face His judgment and condemnation. But what a difference the mercy and grace of God make. When God intervenes, your entire trajectory changes. You no longer ‘follow’ the ‘’ways of this world’’ (2), which are really the ways of the devil and the flesh (2, 3). Rather, you move in a whole new direction which is set for you by God Himself (10).
Prayer: Lord I marvel at your grace in my life. It truly is ‘amazing.’
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