Paul centres his argument that salvation is based entirely on what God has done and not on what we have done by highlighting the role each part of the trinity, God the Father; Son; Holy Spirit, plays in our salvation.
When we think of the word, ‘Word’, we tend to think about language, the written word or the spoken word. Words are how we communicate and express ourselves. Scripture uses ‘Word’ in a different way. The Word is a person. John’s gospel begins, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ (John 1:1) The word is God, or at least the word is the second person of the trinity, the Son, the one we know as Jesus Christ. In the beginning was The Word, in the beginning was Jesus the Son of God who was with God, who was and is God.
As we come to this study in Ephesians, we will be uncovering God’s plan for his church. Hopefully, it will challenge our understanding of the church regardless as to whether we have had positive or negative experiences, because we will be getting back to God’s plan for the church, his hope for his people.
We all struggle with temptations of many kinds. We all have weak spots where we are vulnerable to failing sin. If we are honest this is painful. Many people feel they will never be free.
We have a God who understands all of this becuase he too was tempted - he struggled with evil to a greater degree than we ever will. He is not immune to these, and therefore he is able to help us.
The catechism teaches us that our purpose, our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. It’s worth noting the catechism points to our chief end. It’s saying our ultimate purpose is to glorify God. There are many things in life we must do, we have many purposes, many ends – yet the chief end. In other words, everything in life, everything we do, be it caring for children or an elderly parent, be it sweeping the streets or running the country and everything in between, the point of it all, is that we would glorify God.
What makes Christmas, believing in the magic of Christmas, or believing in the one who made Christmas... Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us...
Jealousy is at the heart of so much of what we know as sin. Think about the relationships we have the most trouble with. What’s at the heart of those difficulties… is it that we’re jealous. Jealous of how much a person is loved or appreciated; we believe we’re more deserving.
The story of Christmas is one of humility, it’s the story, which is the opposite of envy, it is a story of self-sacrificial love. Jesus who set aside his glory, position, power, magnificence, his royal nature, his position of creator, his greatness and out of love gave of himself… in terms of the life he lived; he loved the life of a pauper, in terms of his appearance; unlimited glory for the form of an infant, child, adolescent and man, in terms of his life; death on a cross.
When we talk about kindness then we’re talking about more than being nice to some people. Kindness is one of those qualities found in God; God is kindness. Therefore, true kindness is a gift from God, it is the fruit of God at work in our lives through his Sprit. What does this Godly kindness look like?
What is patience, the Greek word which we have translated as patience means to be long tempered, to have humility and gentleness. It’s a word that is connected to how we treat one another. Therefore, when scripture talks about patience it is talking about our relationships with one another. We also know that patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5: 22-23, ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’