Immense Favour ...

Thursday, Oct 21, 2010. We are reading the “Ephesians”, the New Testament letter which the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the town of Ephesus.

Dense writing …

There are several topics picked up by Paul in the following paragraphs from Ephesians 1. He talks about the great things which God wants to give. He talks about God's plan for “his” people. And he talks about wisdom, understanding, about salvation from evil, about blessings and praise. Buckle up and off we go …

3 May our Father God and Jesus Christ our master be honoured, because they have given us immense favour through Jesus - every possible favour in the spiritual realm in heaven. 4 God chose us to belong to Christ, even before the world was made, and that we should be set apart for him and be totally pure in his eyes. Because of his love for us, 5 even before we existed he planned that we would be adopted as his children through what Jesus did for us. It was his choice to plan that for us.

6 God should be given great praise for his glorious kindness to us, which we did not deserve, namely his great favour to us through Jesus whom he dearly loves.

7 In Jesus, we have been rescued from evil. Because he died for us, all our evil ways have been forgiven – a huge act of undeserved kindness.

8 His kindness overflows to us, giving us wisdom and understanding 9 of the inconceivable plan which he chose to bring about. 10 His plan is that at the end of time, everything will be put under the control of Christ, both things on earth and things in heaven. 11 We were chosen to belong to him, chosen even before we existed. This was his plan, which he decided to do and which he is bringing about through his full authority over everything. 12 He wants those of us who have put our trust in Christ to cause praise to come to him, our glorious God.

13 You also put your trust in him when you heard the true message about him, the good news that we can be saved from evil. Once you trusted in Jesus, you were given God’s Spirit as a sign that you belong to Christ. 14 God’s Spirit in us is a guarantee that we will one day receive his full blessing, resulting in even more praise to our glorious God.

God's kindness, salvation, blessing, praise …

When we go through this text we realize that it contains a lot. Paul wants us to be saved and he confirms many times that it is God's will to save. He even tells these Christians, that God chose them before they existed to save them. This topic of predetermination has been strongly debated in the Church for centuries now. There are parts of the New Testament, where we could get the impression that God has already chosen those he wants to save. Then there are other parts which point more to the idea of free will, where people are called to make decisions such that God can save them. We are called to believe, are called to open our heart.

Then, Paul talks about God's spirit, which is given to those who believe, through trust in Jesus. God's spirit guarantees that his full blessings are received. The topic of the Holy Spirit is a deep and far reaching topic which we will discuss in depth in one of our topical weeks.

Finally, Paul talks about the consequence of God's kindness, which is praise. God IS wonderful, and when people live with him and discover who he really is, they are excited about him. Praise is a natural reaction when people get to know the God and creator of the world. The world itself with its wonders, with science, with nature, with humans, with art, with love, with children and adults, with its beauties and its fascination is mere a reflection of the eternal God. He created all this, from the tiny things to the great things. And he is a kind God, a saviour, the God who meets us in Jesus Christ. ... more texts