Part of God’s grace is his revelation of Christ to us. Without the Spirit of God revealing Christ to us we would still be in the dark. However, God the Father wants to make Christ known to us, it is his will and purpose. v9 God wants people to understand who Jesus is, what he has done and how people may receive redemption from their sin. When we take the good news of Jesus to people we are within the will of God. This is what Paul spent his Christian life doing. God has opened up his will in scripture and through the person of Christ. He wants people to understand he has a plan. It is a plan that is even bigger than individual redemption it is the redemption of all of creation. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the biggest and most significant event in all history, not only of the earth but of the universe. It is the most astonishing revelation in the bible. It is a plan of which we are yet to see the end result. It is as Paul records, ‘a plan for the fullness of time.’ v10
God’s ultimate purpose is the praise of his glorious name through redemption. God is glorified as a result of his grace which is the outcome of his nature which is to have mercy. v6 The means by which we access God’s mercy is always through Jesus. In and through Jesus we see the mercy of God personified. Mercy for Jesus was costly because he took upon himself the righteous wrath of God for the sin of those who trust in him. v7 It cost him his life but it also cost him bearing the wrath of his own Father towards the sin of others. What price do we put on mercy? How are our lives an expression of God’s mercy? Paul says, ‘he lavished mercy upon us’ and this is an expression of God’s wisdom and grace. v8 As we go through life do we share in God’s wisdom by lavishing mercy on others?
It was out of the eternal love of God that he planned for the adoption of believers into the family of God and for them to be “sons” of God. This was to be achieved through Jesus Christ. The saving work of Christ was pre-ordained. Jesus was obedient to the will of the Father as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. In this way Jesus is the ultimate example of obedience to the Father. It is very easy to celebrate being adopted in God’s family and accorded the privileged position of being a child of God. However, we can be reluctant to fulfil the responsibility of a child to be obedient to the Father. If, however Jesus had chosen to refuse to be obedient then there would have been no way for us to become a child of God. Have we grasped the enormous privilege it is to be called a child by God the Father? Have we properly considered the responsibility of obedience that accompanies such a position?
Our praise, thanksgiving and worship of God the Father is the right and natural response of all who have believed in Jesus Christ. v3 It is God the Father who has blessed us but he does that through and in Christ. Blessing in biblical terms involves the favour of God and gifts of God. Spiritual blessings for the Christian are to be found in Christ. They are not separate from Jesus. They are to be only found in Christ. When Paul refers to heavenly places v4 he means the Christian’s future home. It is there then that we as believers will receive the fullness of God’s blessing. Paul is reminding the Ephesians of their and our future hope. However, God established this hope even before creation. v4 Once we believed in Jesus we entered in to all of God’s blessing to be found in Christ. It is Christ who is holy and blameless and God the Father will credit to all believers that same status because we will be in Christ.
Ephesians is a powerful message of God’s transforming power in and through Jesus Christ. “When, as global Christians, we look around our own neighbourhoods and around the world, we realize that we are called to live out our new life that has been granted to us. This includes ridding ourselves of what does not fit the new life of light and purity into which we have been swept up. Sexual immorality, degrading speech, falsehood, bitterness, and anger have no place in our lives anymore. It is no longer who we are. Not only do we seek purity for ourselves, we also seek God’s blessing in our relationships. In our marriages, jobs and families, we are called to be mindful of the Lord and to love as we have been loved.” (ESV Global Study Bible p1660)
Who we are and our calling is by the will of God. Paul was not unique in God having a purpose for his life. His was a high calling indeed, he was to be the main human agent for the founding of the church in non-Jewish communities. v1 It was not Paul’s personal ambition, that was to destroy the church not found it. Paul misguidedly believed he was doing God’s will whilst being an enemy of Christ and his followers. Paul called himself the greatest of sinners. Paul was an enemy of Christ but that did not prevent Jesus from revealing himself to him, supernaturally and dramatically. Even at that point Jesus had a purpose for his life. What was true for Paul is true for us. God has a purpose, even purposes, for our lives. Our history does not prevent that purpose. We can jump on the train or stay on the platform and be left behind because it is up to us to do or not do what Paul did, which is to repent and believe. Each of the believers he was writing to in Ephesus and Asia Minor was also called by the will of God. A shared part of every believer’s calling is to live in the continuous unmerited love of God and to share in the peace that comes from his continued blessing. v3Imagine receiving a gift, delivered by DPD, from the Queen that turned out to be a priceless, glorious painting. That would be something to tell the neighbours. Jesus’ and God the Father’s unmerited eternal love, delivered not by DPD but by the Holy Spirit, is so much more.
