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New Year 2025 – The Book of Ephesians
For the first few weeks of 2025, we’ll taking our inspiration from the wonderful book of Ephesians.
Tuesday 21st January – Ephesians 2:1-3 ‘The old ways’
A couple of years ago I read ‘The Old Ways’ by Robert McFarlane. It’s brilliant book: an exploration of the ancient paths which criss-cross our land, and which have been walked for thousands of years. Many are still footpaths and bridleways, even today, and it’s fascinating to capture that sense of walking the same paths that humans have trod for generation after generation.
The idea of ‘the old ways’, the paths that humanity treads and re-treads year after year, generation after generation, applies to the spiritual life as well; and, in the opening verses of chapter 2, Paul makes it clear what these paths are. It is one of the hardest hitting paragraphs in all scripture, but also one of the most important. Like the bitter-tasting medicine we know will do us good, verses 1-3 describe the fundamental problem of the human condition: our state of rebellion against God.
In the traditional language of the Christian faith, the roots of sin affect us in three dimensions: the flesh, the world and the devil. We see all of these roots at work here: ‘the cravings of our flesh… its desires and thoughts’ (v3) – in other words, our basic impulses as individuals to do things we shouldn’t.
Then there’s ‘the world’: ‘the ways of this world… those who are disobedient… all of us lived among them at one time’ (vv2-3) – in other words, peer pressure, the power that groups of people have to enforce a way of living. Most of us like to fit in; sadly, fitting in can often lead us to do the wrong thing, if the alternative is criticism or ostracism.
Finally, there’s the devil: ‘the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient’ (v2). The great success of the devil lies in us giving him too much attention (so we obsess) or too little (so we reduce him to a pantomime villain, with horns and a pitchfork). But there is a real spiritual power of evil, whose most effective strategies are simply to encourage our natural inclinations. The flesh and the world can easily hide the one pulling the strings. But let’s note that the devil’s kingdom is ultimately a myth: it is ‘of the air’ – it’s all around us, but insubstantial. The devil will never match God, the ruler of heaven and earth, whose kingdom is real.
The hardest thing for human beings to accept is the truth. These are our ‘old ways’. But it’s not the end of the story, not by a long shot. The following verses lead us wonderfully off the ancient paths and into the light. But, as we reflect soberly on this passage today, may the declaration we make in a baptism service be our prayer, and our hope: ‘Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil; and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life. And may almighty God deliver us all from the powers of darkness, restore in us the image of his glory, and lead us in the light and obedience of Christ.’ Amen.
Monday 20th January: John 17:15-23 ‘That they may be one’
Saturday began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. So, we also take a brief break from Ephesians today to honour the importance of this week, and what it means for us.
This is a subject dear to our hearts, since our team of churches in Walton is an ecumenical one: that is, we are a united community representing several Christian traditions, all committed to each other, for the glory of God. It is not an easy path: for churches like ours to function well requires a lot of grace and understanding. But the price is worth it, as I believe – and still believe! – that churches like ours are a true reflection of God’s heart, of his longing for a renewed people who truly live as one global family. This is, after all, what Jesus prays for us in today’s iconic passage.
It is tempting to join a church where people are ‘all like us’: but true discipleship calls us to go beyond our naturally limited ambitions. Christ came for all of us, and all of our sisters and brothers are precious. To be one is not to be the same, but rather to celebrate our uniqueness and diversity within a common vision that what unites us is always more than what divides us.
This is the path we have chosen. It probably won’t ever look ‘successful’, but it is precious and beautiful, and we pray that God will be merciful to us and continue to bless us.
So, let’s pray today for our church, that we might continue to celebrate our oneness, for the glory of God. But let’s also pray for our team, for churches across Milton Keynes and ultimately for churches across the world, that unity would grow. As our world seems to be ever more divided, it has never been more important for the church to be a prophetic sign of loving unity, of seeing human barriers broken down and covered over by the grace of God.
And may God grant us grace to be one, that ‘the world might know that you sent me, and have loved them, even as you have loved me’ (v23). Amen.
Saturday 18th January – Ephesians 1:22-23 ‘Christ and his church’
There are lots of images for the Church in the bible. We are Jesus’ bride; we are a family; we are a light, shining out into the world; we are a place where God dwells (more on that in chapter 2). As we draw this amazing chapter to a close, Paul invites us to see the Church in two other powerful ways:
First, we are the body of Christ. Here, Paul develops what he was saying in the previous verses: if Christ has ultimate authority over everything, then that includes the Church. He is its Head. The word ‘head’ means both source and directing power/influence, and both meanings apply here. There would be no church without Jesus, so he is inevitably the source of the Church. He also directs its purpose and growth. As Christians we are joined to this Head – and so, quite rightly, we can function as Christ’s body.
In other places, this image is developed to take on a more practical application: see, for example, 1 Corinthians 12, where we all have our part to play as members of this body. St Teresa of Avila famously comments: ‘Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.’
However, in these verses, it’s less about the practical application than our fundamental relationship to Christ as our Head. He’s in charge! And there is a wonderful postscript to this idea of Christ exercising his unique authority in all things for the church – we are described as his ‘fullness’. Lots of ink has been spilt as to which direction this fullness works: does it mean that Christ is not complete without his Church? Possibly. More likely, it’s the other way round: Christ’s ‘fullness’ fills the Church.
There is so much talk about the decline of the Church in Western culture – and some of it is true and valid. But there is a deeper truth: whatever its size or strength in human terms, Christ fills his Church. He has everything the Church needs to flourish and grow. The Church will endure, one way or another, because Christ fills it – and his life and authority are both eternal.
As we close this week, give thanks that the Church is not just a human institution – it is the body of Christ. And let’s all pray that Christ fills it, and continues to fill it – in our services tomorrow, in our community life together, in our witness to the world, always.
Friday 17th January – Ephesians 1:19-21 ‘Far above all authority’
There is nowhere you can go where you can escape human authority. It is true that there are some pieces of land on earth which are ‘unclaimed’ – but that is for the simple reason that there is no reason to claim them: they are totally uninhabitable. Every habitable piece of land on this planet is owned by somebody, or their ownership is disputed by two or more claimants.
You can’t escape on the sea – sovereign nations ‘own’ the water up to twelve miles from their coastline, and any crime committed on a boat or ship in the middle of the ocean sits under the jurisdiction of the place where that vessel is registered. The same goes for airplanes – so you can’t even evade the law five or six miles above the earth!
In fact, you can go much higher, and still not escape the long arm of the law. Even on the International Space Station (orbiting 250 miles above the earth), were a crime to be committed, there are rules governing who would prosecute it. Useful info for any of you budding astronauts!
Human beings are as good at making rules as breaking them. Anarchy never lasts – we instinctively create hierarchies, with rule and authority. In fact, we love levels of authority: stoutly defending our level against those below us, and hoping for an opportunity to ascend to join those above us. In my old company, I started as a Trainee Researcher, then became a Junior researcher, then a plain old Researcher, a Senior Researcher, a Manager, and finally an Associate Director, where my journey ended. But I could have gone on to become a Research Director, a Divisional Director, a Board Director and ultimately a Managing Director!
In the end, though, all forms of human authority are limited and temporary (though sadly many power-hungry leaders try to defeat this truth, with disastrous results). There is, though, an altogether higher source of power. It’s the power which raised Christ from the dead. It’s the power that seated him at the right hand of God Almighty. It’s so great, it sits ‘far above’ everything else. Everything. You sense that Paul is running out words as he tries to communicate to us just how much greater Jesus us than everything and everyone else: ‘all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come.’ Every type of authority, in every place, at every time.
This is the Lord we worship! This is who we pray to. This is what raises our faith, and inspires our hope. Jesus has it all. Let that thought sink in for a few minutes today; and may it energise your prayers and empower your living today. Amen!
Thursday 16th January – Ephesians 1:18-19 ‘Hope, riches and power’
It’s the season of New Year’s resolutions. I wonder if you made any? Or if you have a wish-list for 2025? I must confess I don’t really make new year’s resolutions – the sense of inevitable failure is too much for me! But many of us carry dreams and desires for how our lives should be…
Such a feeling is natural, human. We all have God-given impulses, a yearning for transcendence. Most people pray – even those who would not call themselves adherents of any faith, Christian or otherwise. But what to pray for?
What’s so fascinating about today’s passage is that Paul prays for things which most people want: hope, riches and power. It’s interesting, isn’t it? So often we think of faith as being disconnected from reality, or inhabiting a different realm. But this sounds so…. earthy.
The key, of course, is where we can find such things. What’s problematic about, say, riches and power, is that people who seek those are usually in it for themselves. Their riches, their power. Paul, however, subverts this idea completely. It’s not wrong to want these things, you can imagine him saying, but you’ve got to look for them in the right places:
Our hope is not found in externals, like qualifications, money, parental support, a good CV – it’s in our calling. The calling that Paul has just outlined over the last seventeen verses.
Our riches are not ours at all – they’re God’s. What we have are spiritual riches: chosen from eternity, adopted into God’s family, set free and filled with his Holy Spirit – a glorious inheritance indeed!
Our power is, again, not ours – it’s God’s. It’s his incomparably great power working on our behalf. The power to save us, to give us life, to transform us. We can’t do these things for ourselves.
Many years ago, I had a friend who told me once about their SFGTD box. ‘What’s that?’ I asked them one day. ‘Oh, that – it’s my Something For God To Do box. Whenever I have a prayer need that I can’t fix myself, I put it in the SFGTD box, and leave it with the Lord.’
I like that. It doesn’t have to be a real box, obviously! But if you have that kind of need, why not put it into your SFGTD box today? God has all the hope, riches and power you need for it.
Wednesday 15th January – Ephesians 1:15-17 ‘I keep asking…’
I wonder what you like to pray for? If any of us took a good look at the content of our prayers, we would likely find that most of us – me included – focus a lot on practical requests. And that’s fine: Jesus encourages us to ask God for what we need today (our daily bread), and there’s no harm in naming those things. Or, indeed, naming others who need particular things, too.
But I always find it helpful to look at the content of biblical prayers – especially the prayers of St Paul in the letters he wrote. Whenever I read them, it seems to open out a new dimension for me in prayer. It’s like Paul is praying on a different plane; you might say, a deeper foundation. It’s the difference between asking to be given bread and asking to learn how to bake. Now that would be something, wouldn’t it?
Nowehere is this clearer than in this amazing letter. Paul often has a prayer he prays for the church to which he is writing somewhere near the start of his letter. The prayer in Ephesians is a few verses later than normal, and with good reason: he’s just written some of the greatest and most inspiring theology anyone has ever put down on paper. So, ‘for this reason’ (as he now says), it’s no surprise that his first prayer is this: (v17) ‘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.’
In other words, what Paul prays is that we would really grasp all this fantastic stuff he’s been sharing in the previous verses! That we would know, deep in our inmost being, that all of these blessings are for all of us, every follower of Christ. Not just some of us, or the privileged few – but all of us.
If we really did grasp these things, and live on the basis that all of these blessings were true and real, then naturally we would truly know God (better). It would be the air we breathe, the song we sing. So, this is really a prayer about focus; because the reality is that most of us feel these things, or know these things, some of the time, but not all the time. We let our focus drift, and let the world tell us a different story: we’re not special, we’re not loved or chosen or free. And we lose heart.
I think that’s why this is a prayer that Paul keeps asking – not just once, but often. He knows people; he knows life. He knows we get discouraged. So, today, let’s be inspired by Paul’s example and take him at his word. Let’s keep asking. Let’s keep asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit that enables us to know God better: to grasp the spiritual blessings we already have, and to live with the freedom, purpose and joy that knowing these things brings.
And let’s pray that for others, too, remembering them as Paul remembers his readers. Pass it on!
Tuesday 14th January – Ephesians 1:13-14 ‘The heavenly down-payment’
For many hundreds of years, a wax seal has been used to mark letters of importance. A seal indicates both the sender and the authority attached to the contents of the letter. You may be surprised to learn that the practice is still in use today. When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married in 2018 they required a royal ‘Instrument of Consent’. This is the official document giving the monarch’s permission for them to wed. Like all royal documents it was marked with The Great Seal – proof that the late Queen had authorised it and given her blessing.
As we’ve feasted on these early verses of the letter, and outlined all the wonderful spiritual blessings God has given us in Christ, we can also observe that Paul is addressing a simple, but very important question: how can we know if we’re part of God’s people? If we’re forgiven and secure in his love?
The writer has listed many compelling reasons: how God chose us and adopted us into His family, how Jesus set us free through the cross, how God’s grace demonstrates the wisdom of God. But here, Paul concludes this opening section by offering a very concrete proof: we are sealed with the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. Since a seal denotes the authority of the giver, the Holy Spirit represents the authority of none other than God himself declaring that we are his, that we are saved and chosen and set free to be part of his family forever.
Wow! And the consequence is naturally this: it guarantees everything else. If we bear the seal of the King of kings, then we can be sure that all of the other blessings are ours as well.
At this point, Paul switches image, but it’s quite a helpful switch as it makes the same point in a different way. He encourages us to see the gift of the Holy Spirit as a deposit which acts as a guarantee. We’re used to doing this when acquiring something valuable: a holiday, a new electronic item, even a house. How much more the gift of eternal life and heavenly blessings! The Holy Spirit is God’s down-payment in our lives – both a foretaste and a guarantee of what is to come.
No wonder Paul concludes this section with these words: ‘to the praise of his glory.’ It’s the third time he has used this phrase – see also v6 and v12. It’s as if, every time he talks about this stuff, he can’t stop breaking out into praise. I want to have this kind of faith! Life is hard, and it’s easy to get weighed down. Life was even harder for Paul – and yet, he anchors himself in the things he can never lose, and which bring him daily joy. May this be our reality, too. Ask the Holy Spirit – God’s own deposit in your life – to fill you with joy today: that your life would indeed be to the praise of his glory. Amen.
Monday 13th January – Ephesians 1:11-13a ‘In him’
There are lots of crises currently enveloping our world at present – but one of the biggest, and least noticed, is a crisis of identity. Millions of people find themselves asking this question, and not getting an answer: ‘Just who am I?’
It used to be easier to answer this question three or four generations ago. Your identity was determined by your roots, both family and geographic. If you were born into a certain place or culture, that was who you were – everything else flowed out of that. I’m not suggesting that these were the ‘good old days’, or that we should automatically go back to them; the major drawback of these strong, self-sustaining cultures is that anyone who wanted to get out of them had a hard time doing so.
But this sense of conferred identity did have one huge advantage, which we’ve now largely lost: people knew who they were – for good or ill, they had an identity. Since the 1960s (roughly), this has all changed. We’re told now that every individual creates their own identity, and this is presented to us as a good thing. Pick and choose the bits you like; ‘be who you want to be.’ Sadly, however, what we’ve learned is that it’s not that simple. Identity is found in community – individually constructed identities simply mean that we’re all totally alone; and usually either insecure or dissatisfied, or both. Put bluntly, it doesn’t work – and it makes us miserable.
St Paul would have known nothing of our cultural crisis. Pretty much all societies until the 1960s (and most non-Western cultures even now) understood, even assumed, that identity is only found in community. However, what he does say about identity in this amazing letter is perhaps even more important and relevant to Western society (and especially Christians) than it’s ever been. If we find our identity in community, then the million-dollar question for our lives is: which community? What defines us? What are our roots?
And the answer is found very clearly in the first half of the first chapter of Ephesians. We only discover who we truly are in Christ. Following Jesus is not a club we join, or even a movement we sign up to, although we can agree that the latter is valuable; ultimately it is about immersing ourselves in a new, God-given identity. All our blessings are in Christ.
Jus look at these early verses: (v1) ‘the faithful in Christ’; (v3) ‘every spiritual blessing in Christ’; (v4) ‘he chose us in him’; (v6) ‘grace… freely given in the One’; (v7) ‘in him we have redemption’; (v9) ‘the mystery of his will… purposed in Christ’; (v11) ‘in him we were also chosen’; (v12) ‘hope in Christ’; (v13) ‘included in Christ’.
Nine references in 13 verses. Add in the following: (v2) ‘from Jesus Christ’; (v5) ‘through Jesus Christ’; (v10) ‘under Jesus Christ’ – and that’s every verse apart from v8 locating all our blessings, our entire identity as Christians, in one place, or rather person: Jesus.
It’s so foundational it’s sometimes easy to miss. Like breathing, we forget we’re doing it. But every so often it’s good to stop and remind ourselves. We are in Christ. It’s our whole identity. As we begin this week, let’s do it as those who know where they’ve come from, and where they’re going. It’s all in him. Amen!
Saturday 11th January – Ephesians 1:9-10 ‘The great summing up’
A couple of years ago, our ancient church buildings finally entered the digital financial age by acquiring card readers. It has proved a real blessing, and one of those readers is provided by the company Sum Up. It turns out that this is quite a good name for a church device, because today’s passage describes God’s ultimate plan as literally to ‘sum up’ all things.
This unusual Greek word has two meanings. In the only other place where it is used in the bible, Paul uses it to describe how ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ sums up – i.e. summarises, encapsulates – the whole law (Romans 13:9). However, the word as it is used here represents the other meaning: summing up as in ‘gathering together’.
Throughout his week we have feasted on some truly remarkable verses. Paul has outlined the great spiritual blessings that followers of Jesus enjoy – and here, perhaps is the most remarkable of all of them. God has a plan which goes well beyond simply ‘saving souls’: he is renewing the entire creation; the whole universe, in fact. This restoration of all things will not only form the final masterpiece of God’s eternal work, it will put Christ front and centre: the root of this word ‘sum up’ implies bringing things together under one Head – and we see quite clearly in the text that this head is Jesus himself.
It’s quite a thought for a cold and sleepy Saturday morning! And even more remarkable when you consider Paul’s current circumstances – under house arrest, handcuffed to a Roman soldier. I’ll finish this week with an extended quote from the great church leader John Stott, reflecting on this:
‘Though his wrist was chained and his body confined, his heart and mind inhabited eternity. He peered back “before the foundation of the world” (v4) and on to “the fullness of time” (v10), and grasped hold of what “we have” now (v7) and ought to “be” now (v4) in the light of those two eternities. As for us, how blinkered is our vision in comparison with his, how small is our mind, how narrow our horizons! …If we shared the apostle’s perspective, we would also share his praise… Life would become worship, and we would bless God constantly for having blessed us so richly in Christ.’
May the Lord grant us that perspective today. And may that cause us to lift our eyes, expand our minds, enlarge our hearts and widen our horizons. Amen!
Friday 10th January – Ephesians 1:7-8 ‘O perfect redemption…’
Last Autumn I read Robert Harris’ Cicero trilogy. I hadn’t planned to do so all in one go – but it was so good I had to start the next novel as soon as I finished the last one, and read it all in about three weeks’ flat. It is a brilliant set of novels, and is narrated by Tiro, who was Cicero’s secretary for 36 years (and really did exist; he invented shorthand, and in fact some of our abbreviations – &, NB, i.e., e.g. – were his inventions. So, without knowing it, you may already use Tiro’s work every day!)
Although the primary focus of the trilogy is, of course, the life of Cicero, one of the sub-themes is Tiro’s own life – and, in particular, the issue of his freedom. Tiro was a slave, and waited patiently for Cicero to grant his freedom, for services rendered. He has to wait a long time – decades, in fact. But eventually the moment comes, somewhat out of the blue:
‘”Congratulations, my friend,” Cicero said, shaking my hands, “you have earned it.” For years I had waited for this moment – I had yearned for it and dreamed of it and planned what I would do – and now it had arrived, almost casually it seemed, out of all this ruin and disaster. I was too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. Cicero smiled at me, and then embraced me as I wept, patting my back as if I were a child that needed comforting, and then Atticus, who was standing watching, took my head and shook it warmly. I managed to say a few words of thanks, and added that of course my first act as a free man would be to dedicate myself to his service, and that I would stay at his side to share his ordeal, whatever happened.’
It’s a striking scene (one of many in the books), but it also highlights the central theme of today’s passage, which rests on another emotive image: not, perhaps, to many of us today – but certainly to Paul’s original readers. The word redemption is another technical word (like ‘sonship’ yesterday), which means to buy a slave her or his freedom. It’s something they couldn’t do for themselves – like Tiro, it had to be granted and done for them by their owner (literally, as they were legally treated as ‘possessions’).
Put like that, suddenly this familiar Christian word ‘redemption’ takes on a much bigger meaning, doesn’t it? What Paul is saying here is that our third great spiritual blessing – after being chosen from eternity and adopted into God’s family – is that we are freed slaves.
‘Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,’ Jesus teaches in John’s gospel, and so the basic theology of the New Testament is that, spiritually speaking, all of humanity are slaves who need their freedom purchased. How is this purchase made? v7: ‘we have redemption through his (Jesus’) blood.’ That is the price – not money, or land, but Jesus’ death on our behalf. No wonder Paul calls it ‘the riches of God’s grace… lavished on us with all wisdom.’ As the great hymn writer Fanny Crosby put it: ‘O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood! To every believer the promise of God.’
Most of us will never know what it feels like to have our freedom bought (though many do around the world, still, even in our time). But that is the spiritual reality for all of us. And our response? May it be that of Tiro’s to our glorious divine Liberator: may our first act, as those are free, be to dedicate ourselves to his service. O give him the glory, great things he hath done!
Thursday 9th January – Ephesians 1:3-6 ‘Freely given’
Today we come to a spiritual blessing which arouses stronger emotions for those with direct experience: the idea of being adopted into God’s family. So, at the start, I want to acknowledge that for some people this image may be hard to engage with, because of the associations it has. It’s not my place to comment on that – rather, what we can do today is address the heart of what Paul is getting at, a message which is for everyone.
It’s often said that we are all God’s children – but in biblical terms, that’s not quite right. We are certainly all invited to become God’s children, and we are all God’s special and unique creations – every human can declare that about themselves – but we can only become God’s children through the work of Christ. That’s what Paul says here: we are adopted into God’s family ‘through Jesus Christ’ (v5).
This is not something God does grudgingly – in fact it is his ‘pleasure’; nor is it something accidental – he planned to do it, it is his ‘will’. It’s worth pausing to reflect on how remarkable that is. God delights to bring us into his family! His arms of welcome are extended, his love is ‘freely given’.
At this point Paul uses a legal term – sonship – and most bibles keep it, despite the non-inclusive language, for a good reason. This is not just bigotry; rather, this particular word in Roman culture is used when an adopted son gains the full rights of an heir. They are not just part of the family – they inherit everything.
This is vital to Paul’s declaration at the start that we have every spiritual blessing. If the ‘why’ is because of his love and grace, the ‘how’ is that we get the full rights of natural-born children (i.e. like Jesus). We inherit every spiritual blessing, thanks to Jesus.
So, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are automatically a child of God – and not just any child, an heir. The fulness of spiritual life that God longs for you to enjoy is yours – his will declares that you can have it. This is glorious grace indeed! It caused Paul to praise (v6) – may it cause all of us to praise as well. And as we look ahead to this coming day, perhaps these words, too, come to mind: freely, freely you have received – freely give.
Wednesday 8th January – Ephesians 1:4 ‘Chosen – for what?’
In 2017, the then little-known producer Dallas Jenkins released a film called ‘The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.’ It got mediocre reviews and largely flopped. Working out what to do next, Dallas started binge-watching other dramas and gradually realised there was something that had never been done before: no-one had ever filmed a multi-season series of Jesus’ life. There were many big-budget famous films, and also short series for TV – but no-one had ever attempted something more ambitious. It was indeed a Big Idea – the problem was, there was no money to do it. So, he started crowdfunding; the money started coming in, and, using a cast of relatively unknown actors, he started filming a pilot.
He called the show ‘The Chosen’, and some of you will know what happened next. The programme has been a huge hit – now running to four series, it has its own app but is also available on Prime and Netflix, and has been watched by more than 100 million people. The actor who plays Jesus has also met the Pope twice, to talk about the show!
It’s a remarkable cultural phenomenon, and has introduced Jesus to millions of people in a new way. I must confess it’s still on my list of things to watch, but I’ve heard many good reviews – even from those who wouldn’t profess to believe its message. But why ‘The Chosen’? The short answer is that it refers initially to Jesus’ choosing of his twelve apostles. But the more general sense is this idea that all followers of Jesus are chosen by God.
The idea that we are chosen is one of the more controversial in Christian thought. And yet, it occurs numerous times in the New Testament, so we cannot dismiss it. We do, however, have to face the awkward question: does that mean that others are not chosen, and therefore cannot be saved?
At one level, we’ll never know this side of heaven. The best answer, though, is this: no-one living can say ‘I have not been chosen.’ However, those who are followers of Jesus can declare with joy: ‘The Lord has chosen me!’
This is the first of the great spiritual blessings Paul refers to in v3 (see yesterday’s reflection). And it naturally comes first because of the timeline: when did God choose us? When we were born? When we first started exploring faith? No – before the world began. Wow! This is not a roll-the-dice, toss-a-coin kind of choice; this is a fixed and firm decision. God chose you – a long, long time ago.
But not just so you could feel special – although we all should! There’s a bigger, redemptive plan. We are chosen ‘to be holy and blameless in his sight’ – in other words, to lead the kind of life God meant for humanity to live, in harmony with their Creator and with transparent integrity. God’s choice is not designed to spoil us, but to transform us. We are the Chosen – for a bigger role than even a global TV series; we are chosen to become a new humanity, filled with the fulness of God.
Today, take a moment to give thanks that God has chosen you. And pray that, by his wonderful grace, you can live that abundant, holy life he has chosen you for.
Tuesday 7th January – Ephesians 1:3 ‘Every spiritual blessing’
‘It’s the hope that kills you.’ You’ll hear this phrase often on the lips of a sports fan. The great joy – and curse – of following a team is that success is only ever temporary. It makes the wins all the sweeter, knowing that defeat is inevitable at some point – probably next week! Some of you will know that I’m a big fan of American football, and last night my team – the Denver Broncos – thrashed the reigning champions to make it through to the play-offs for the first time in nine years. It was as amazing as it was unexpected.
We only had to win one of our last three games – two weeks ago, we were 11 points up well into the second half of the game… and lost. Last week we were tied at the end of normal time (enough to see us qualify)… and lost in overtime. They’ve put us all through the wringer, to be honest. But today, I can dream… until we get thrashed next week by the Bills in snowy Buffalo. It’s the hope that kills you.
That sense of impending doom, a glass half empty, the sense that things will always go wrong in the end, is often thought to be a ‘mature’ way of looking at the world. What we experience in the fantasy world of sport becomes our mantra in life, too. If something seems too good to be true – well, it probably is. Life will come back to bite to you in the end.
St Paul would be entitled to feel like that more than most people. Walking away from a privileged upbringing and rapid career rise through the religious ranks in adult life, he’d spent the last 25 years or so being rejected by his own people, thrown out of towns and cities, beaten up, stoned, occasionally betrayed by friends, and in and out of numerous prisons. He even writes this current letter under permanent house arrest.
And yet, what is his perspective on life? Cynical? World weary? Tired of hope? ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.’ Every spiritual blessing. Not just a few, or even plenty – but all we need. Whatever life throws at him, Paul’s perspective is that there are deeper things, hidden realities, firm foundations, eternal truths which outlast anything we face here on this earth. In Christ, we can overcome, because these spiritual realities, these blessings, are ours.
There’s a lot to be fearful or depressed about in the world at present. And those things aren’t going away anytime soon. But, when I read this wonderful verse, I find myself thinking: ‘I want a bit of what he has.’ In fact, I want a lot of it. A hope which runs deeper, holds faster than anything else.
Over the next few days, we’ll look in detail at the blessings Paul names – and there are plenty! But today, let’s receive this verse as an invitation: to believe that, whatever our daily challenges, or the bigger problems in our world, we really do have every spiritual blessing in Christ. May that word be written on our hearts. And, like Paul, may it cause us to praise our great God today. Amen.
Monday 6th January – Ephesians 1:1-2 ‘Grace and peace’
If you could attempt to summarise the things you really needed to know as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, what would they be?
It’s a useful question to ask, and in the bible, the book of Ephesians is the closest we get to an answer. Why? Because there’s a good chance that, unlike all of St Paul’s other letters, this one was not only written to one church community, but was more of a circular, sent out to many. The earliest copies of this letter that we have do not mention Ephesus at all in the first verse, and the second century scholar Marcion refers to this letter as being one written to Laodicea not Ephesus.
Once you add in the lack of personal greetings to a church where he had spent more time than any other (he lived in Ephesus for three years), the lack of specific questions Paul addresses in the letter, the broad sweep of theology and the fact that we know it was one of his later letters, probably written under house arrest in Rome (hence his description of himself as a prisoner in 4:1), then it seems likely that this is a very different kind of letter to Paul’s usual missive.
This is the elderly Paul’s last great summary of what God has done in Christ, and how we should respond and therefore live as a result. It is, in short, the heart of what we really need to know. All in five pages of a standard bible. Wow.
The letter splits neatly into two halves: who we are in Christ (chs 1-3) and therefore how we should live as followers of Christ (chs 4-6). The first half contains some of the most mind-blowing, heart-lifting theology ever written; the second half is intensely practical, covering unity, gifts, values, lifestyle, leadership, core relationships, witness, prayer and the spiritual battle. Not much to work with, then! The challenge will be not to say too much each day, rather than not enough….
But, before we get into the meat of this amazing letter, it starts with a simple greeting: ‘grace and peace’. It was Paul’s adaptation of a typical Roman greeting… but so much more. In three simple words he defines the essence of our faith. First, grace: God’s undeserved mercy to us, his heart of love for humanity, shown in Christ. I was brought up to understand grace by this simple acronym: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense – and it’s hard to get a better definition, even now. Philip Yancey describes grace as the ‘last, best word of the English language,’ defining it as: ‘nothing you can do can make God love you more, nothing you can do can make God love you less.’ What a thought…
And the outcome of grace is that second word: peace. More than just the absence of conflict, it derives from the Hebrew word shalom, which means complete wellbeing in every dimension. Whilst we may feel a long way short of that, to know the grace of Christ slowly brings order and peace to all our relationships: with God, with others, with the wider community, even with ourselves.
Grace and peace. What better way to greet someone – even someone you meet today? And what better thing to pray as we begin our series, and indeed this year: may God fill us all with a deeper understanding of his grace, that we too might overflow with his peace. Amen.
Christmas Season
Daily Inspiration takes a break after the final Advent reflection, returns on Monday 6th January. For alternative options, click on any of these links: sign up here for the Church of England’s Daily Christmas Reflections, Daily Bread online or the Daily Inspirations’ back catalogue.
Daily Inspiration for Advent: 1-24 Dec
An epic journey from the promises of the prophets to the manger in Bethlehem – join us daily for a reading and reflection, as we wait with joy and wonder for the birth of our Saviour:
Day 24: Tuesday 24th December, Christmas Eve – John 1:1-14 ‘The Light shines in the darkness’
‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’
We live in dark and anxious times. Fears for health, for loved ones, for prosperity, for mental wellbeing are all prevalent in hearts and minds this Christmas. We are not alone in this – such worries are widespread across our world – but they are none the less real for that.
We need the light.
We need light for what it brings to us. We need light for its perspective. When the light shines, we see things as they really are. We see God coming to earth, bringing salvation, bringing hope and healing, bringing love, authority and wisdom. We see the dawn of redeeming grace – God’s great rescue plan put into operation.
May God grant us grace to see life again as it really is, infused with the light of God’s coming into the world.
We need the light for the warmth that it brings. In ancient societies all forms of light generated measurable heat. And the light of Christmas is not just something to stand and admire, or to gaze upon. When Jesus comes, he promises his very presence, here in our hearts. ‘Behold I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ The light of the world brings us warmth: intimacy with God, the chance to discover unexpected peace in our hearts, and praise on our lips.
May God grant us grace to welcome the light of his presence in our hearts, and be warmed by his love and peace.
We need the light to be guided on right paths. So much of what happens we can’t control at the moment. But if we can’t change the world, we can change the world in us. We can still be bringers of light to others, we can still share grace and peace with those around us, we can choose the quietly radical path of peace-making and joy-bringing in the small places where we do have an influence.
May God grant us grace to be guided by light, that we might be bringers of light to others.
We may still wish things were different. And that’s normal and natural. I do, too. But can I encourage us all to look in two directions this season. Firstly to look down, into the face of God lying in that manger, and see that hope still lives on in the world. And then to look up, towards the light – the light which shines in the darkness, and still shines – and the darkness does not overcome it.
And may God’s light shine in our hearts, our homes, our families, our nation, and our world this Christmas. Amen.
With apologies for late posting of Monday’s below!
Day 23: Monday 23rd December – Matthew 2:9-12 ‘They opened their treasures’
Our best wedding present was in many ways the most unlikely. Like most couples we’d received a lot of wonderful gifts to start a new home. Shortly after we’d arrived back from honeymoon we received one final gift, which came in an unmarked brown cardboard box, wrapped up with brown parcel tape. For those of you who like bows, tags and hospital corners on your wrapped edges, this would have given you palpitations. What on earth was it?
However, when we opened it (with some difficulty), we discovered inside a beautiful crystal lamp – like a larva lamp only much prettier – and an amazing poem written specially for us and our wedding. It was a unique gift: in fact, two unique gifts, both of which were among the best we’d ever received, and from the same dear friend.
The theme of unusual but well-chosen gifts sits at the heart of our reading for today. I guess if you’re going to trek 600 miles across the world, you’d better bring something with you. And as the Magi finally get to meet the new king they’d come so far to see, and after they had knelt in his presence in worship, it was time to crack open the chest and offer the (now obligatory) baby shower presents.
Much is made of the meaning of the presents and their prophetic significance: gold for a king, frankincense for an offering to God, myrrh foreshadowing what Jesus came to do i.e. his sacrificial death. And that’s all true – we can interpret the outline of Jesus’ life and ministry purely from those extraordinary treasures. But today, let’s observe very simply that these were unexpected gifts. After all, there was no reason to assume that this unknown king needed any more gold; frankincense was for priests, not kings; and myrrh was the equivalent of bringing a food-poisoning testing kit to a dinner party.
But God used those unexpected gifts, and did something wonderful with them. And not just as a prophetic sign: the gold probably kept the family alive as they fled into exile. Frankincense might have helped sustain their home prayer life as they left behind the familiar festivals and rituals of their home country. And myrrh could remind them of their unusual visitors and the greater sense that God was up to something special.
This Christmas some of us will share fewer gifts than usual. That is rightly a cause of sadness and regret. But let’s take heart from today’s story and pray instead that we would give and receive unexpected gifts. Anything offered to Jesus can be used for his glory. What treasures might you open as you worship the newborn king?
Day 22: Sunday 22nd December – Matthew 2:3-8 ‘Greatly disturbed’
In February each year, the charity Open Doors publishes its World Watch List. This constitutes the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian – places where it is not just frowned upon but actually illegal to convert or own a bible, and where persecution is commonplace. Sadly, the list could be longer than 50, and the levels of danger experienced by Christians have risen sharply in many places over the last 20 years.
Whilst many of these countries will point to a clash of religious cultures as the root of this issue, in other places it is much more overtly political. No matter that most Christians are peace-loving, servant-hearted, and in many other respects model citizens: hardworking, clean living, law-abiding. Power corrupts, and there are many ‘powers’ across the world who hate the idea that any of their citizens might ultimately worship a different boss. Or indeed that they might themselves be answerable to a Higher Power.
This insecurity in the face of the Lordship of Christ is nothing new. It started right from his birth. As the Magi enter the court of puppet King Herod, propped up by the Romans and every bit as venal and ruthless as popular history makes him out to be, news of a new king, a true king, is not welcome.
Herod has already executed several members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne, in the paranoid belief that this will help him cling on to power. To have foreign travellers journeying hundreds of miles to worship someone else right on his doorstep is frankly horrifying, and yet another threat to his rule.
We love to read the prophecies of the coming Messiah, one of which is quoted in today’s reading. They stir the heart and fire the imagination. But Herod’s response sets another, more sobering context for these prophecies. They never come in a vacuum. A new source of authority threatens the old order, however radically different this new authority might be.
Today let’s pray for just and godly leadership around the world – we need it as much as ever. And let’s also give thanks for the freedoms we still enjoy, whilst praying blessing and protection for our brothers and sisters around the world who face similar dangers to those faced by the Magi and the Holy Family. May the joy of the Lord be our – and their – strength today.
Day 21: Saturday 21st December – Matthew 2:1-2 (ii) ‘We saw his star’
On this day (21st December) in 2020, the two largest planets in the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, aligned so closely to one another in the sky that they appeared to be fused into a single point of light.
Although the trajectories of these planets come close to one another every twenty years or so, to be aligned within a tenth of a degree is something that hasn’t been seen for at least 400 years, and probably longer. Although it may possibly have been visible in 1623, the last time this event is believed to have actually been witnessed by human observers was in the year 1226, on a certain day before dawn, which afforded about ninety minutes to see it before the sun rose.
Even more remarkably, there also has been speculation among scholars that the conjunction of these planets formed the very Star of Bethlehem quoted in today’s reading that inspired the Magi on their journey. A possible date can be calculated which falls close to the year of Jesus’ birth.
We can’t say for sure – and sadly the weather a year ago was typically British forecast, i.e. cloudy – so we Brits didn’t get a glimpse. But even so, isn’t it amazing that it’s still possible to witness an astrological phenomenon which connects us directly to the story of Jesus’ birth!
We’ll never know this side of heaven; but what we do know is that this phenomenon – whatever it was – so profoundly moved our intrepid travellers that they were willing to stake their time and reputations on following it. And this despite it relating to a ‘foreign’ religion in a faraway country.
I sometimes hear people bemoan the diversity of belief in Britain today. I wonder if rather we should celebrate the fact that many more people around us are spiritual searchers, hungry to connect with eternity. They may sometimes look for it in unusual places, to say the least. But, like the Magi, our response is surely to point all seekers towards the real Way, Truth and Life.
God honoured the spiritual hunger of Persian astrologers, and marvellously brought them into his story. And so should we. Perhaps you consider yourself a seeker in a similar way. Or perhaps you are confident in your beliefs. Either way, God loves those who seek after him. He longs for all of us to become part of his story. Wise men and wise women still follow the star towards Jesus.
Day 20: Friday 20th December – Matthew 2:1-2 ‘Magi came….’
‘We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar…’
The image of the Wise Men or Kings is so iconic that it’s etched into most of our minds. Three elegant travellers, dressed in fine richly-coloured robes, perched on majestic camels, striding across the desert, with a large train of servants. There’s usually the star up above (more on that tomorrow), and a few romantically undulating desert hills in the background.
It’s a wonderful image, with more than a whiff of blarney about it. For a start, they weren’t kings. The word used to describe them is Magus (plural Magi): these were originally Persian priests or even sorcerers – it’s where we get the word ‘magician’ from. More broadly you could translate it as ‘scholar’. So, probably wealthy, certainly clever – but not kings.
There may well have been more than three of them too – we only assume there were three because they gave three gifts. But allowing for ‘group offerings’ there could have been any number… there might even have been just two, one of whom was particularly generous!
And they probably avoided the desert. Rather than go direct across the Arabian sands from Iran or Iraq to Israel (and almost certainly die in the attempt), they would have gone north-west round the so-called Fertile Crescent – adding a good 200 miles to their journey, but saving their lives in the process.
The image of a dozen magicians travelling through scrubland isn’t quite as magical (pardon the pun) as the alternative, I’ll give you that. But there is something much more important going on here. The extraordinary thing about the nativity story is that the key witnesses are (in the case of the shepherds) ceremonially unclean, and (in the case of the Magi) not even Jewish! It’s like a play which at first sight appears to have all the wrong people cast in it.
But that’s the point. When God comes to earth, he comes for everyone. Smelly shepherds, exotic magicians, teenage mothers, furniture makers – everybody. The great and the good, as well as the lost, the last and the least. Every nation, every age, every culture. The good news of Jesus is truly universal – the Messiah is a Saviour for all of us.
That’s why the Magi matter. As we travel with them for a few days, let’s be astonished once more by the extraordinary length, breadth and depth of the love of God. A love which reaches to you too – right here, today.
Previous series
Head over to our Archive page to find previous series in the Psalms, the gospels of Mark, Luke and John, the Holy Spirit, Acts, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews, Isaiah, Daniel, Esther, Joshua, Deuteronomy, seasonal series for Advent, Easter, Remembrance, and more besides!