The Big Read – Ephesians

Powerpoint Pictures: Elephant; Post it note; Diary; Family Calendar; To-Do List on Phone; Note on back of hand; Knot in handkerchief

You probably don’t have the memory of an elephant that never forgets things.

Often we need help remembering things.

We may use post it notes, a diary, a family calendar, a to-do list on your phone.  We may write a note on the back of our hand or if we’re old school, tie a knot in our handkerchief.

Ephesians is a letter written to a church that was in danger of forgetting something really important.  This local church was in danger of forgetting all that God had done for them and so Paul writes a letter to them.

But he doesn’t just do that.  He tells them that he is praying that they will remember these things too.  “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Ephesians 1:17)

In Ephesians 1-3, Paul gives a wonderful description of what God has done for us.  How God has saved us by sending His Son.  How through Jesus, God has united us to Himself and to one another so that we are one people.  All this is done to grace.

But why is it so important that they and us remember what God has done?  It is so we live as people who have been saved by Jesus.

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Ephesians 4:1)

And Ephesians 4-6 is all about what it means to live out the unity that Jesus has achieved in response to the grace God has shown to us.  This will mean being patient with one another, building one another up, speaking the truth to people and so on.

So Ephesians is about some of the wonderful things God has done for us and also how we are to live in ways that make God happy.