This week, the Bible studies on Ephesians re-started. We actually began this study in January 2010, but the news that we had got the new building in February meant that all subsequent Thursdays were spent painting and doing DIY to get the building ready. By summer, we were ready for a rest, so it is only now that ‘normal services’ (!) have been resumed.
A new start meant a whistle-stop tour of the background of Ephesians and a study of Ephesians 1. It was great to see so many people there, eager to learn more. We looked fundamentally at the huge list of all that God has done for us and also at what we have to do:
What God has done
* blessed us in the heavenly realm with every spiritual blessing
* given us grace and peace (grace he has ‘lavished’ on us!)
* chose us in Him to be holy and blameless (‘without reproach’)
* predestined us for adoption as children in His family
* redeemed us through the precious blood of Christ
* forgiven us
* included us in Christ
* marked us with a seal or stamp, the Holy Spirit, as a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance (which is immeasurably rich!)
* given us great hope and power (the same power that raised Christ for the dead is available to us!)
* given us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
* made us into Christ’s body
* put Christ as the head of the church
What we have to do
* hear the word of truth
* believe
* hope
* love others (especially having ‘love for the saints’)
We also looked at the things Paul prayed for and how he prayed. His key prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 1 was that they might know God better. May we learn to pray as he did:
“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. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph 1: 17-19)