Ephesians: Take One

The other day, I read through The Message translation of Ephesians in one sitting. These passages struck me.


2:19-22
That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all--irrespective of how we got here--in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day--a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

The plan will come to pass. Christ is the cornerstone and indeed, He who has begun a good work in us will complete it.


3:8
And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ.

Things that are way over my head indeed. The ever-pervasive Greater Reality of the inexhaustible riches of God's grace and mercy.


4:20-24
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything--and I do mean everything--connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life--a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, we who are in Christ are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. And as Jesus himself said in Matthew 5:48, we are to be perfect just as God is perfect.


4:26-27
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry--but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

Don't go to bed angry. That's the hard part, isn't it? The trouble with us is not anger, but resentment. But how heavy hatred is! We would do well to let this sort of burden go; go into the hands of One who can better deal with anger than we.


4:32
Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

Only by God's grace and strength can we forgive. And his grace is sufficient.


5:2
Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

I pray I will be able to love as Christ loves. To love deeper and stronger when the offence is greater; to love even the unlovable. To 'give everything of myself' when I love.


5.31
And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh."

The famous description of marriage.


6.13-18
Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

The famous passage on the Armour of God. As is typical of The Message, here it has less literary value and more practicality.


6.19-20
And don't forget to pray for me. Pray that I'll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for getting out.

Jailbird preacher. I like that. I remember something Max Lucado wrote, about a hypothetical comment made by a Roman official; "Throw Paul into jail and bind him in chains. Then what will he do? Write letters?"

If only they had any idea what impact those letters would have, they could have saved a lot of energy hunting Christians, simply by killing Paul on the spot. But they didn't; God made sure the movement continued. And today, He keeps us going.

Amen.