Daily Inspiration

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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.

Note: all Inspirations are now uploaded for the week – scroll down for Friday’s, and earlier posts…

Saturday 22nd February – Ephesians 5:14-17 ‘Living wisely’

Let’s begin our final reflection of the week where we left off yesterday: the words of an early Christian song (dare I say hymn?!).  Waking up for many of us is not easy on a Saturday morning, especially if we’ve been at work all week.  You may not want to be reminded today to ‘Wake up’!

Nevertheless, if it’s unwanted advice in our physical lives, it’s very valuable in the spiritual life.  Today’s little passage forms a transition between two big blocks of teaching: about lifestyle (4:20-5:13) and Spirit-led relationships (5:21-6:9) – and the bridge is wisdom.  ‘Be wise,’ Paul says (v15), and he goes on to explain three simple dimensions of wisdom:

First, we stay awake.  Watchfulness, or alertness, is a key theme of the New Testament’s ethical teaching.  It’s easy to drift off; we can get caught in bad habits if we’re not paying attention.  So, as Paul quotes this hymn, it reminds him to encourage all of us to ‘be careful how you live’ – the thrust of which is essentially this idea of watchfulness.  Stay alert to what’s really going on – because ‘the days are evil’ i.e. it’s a challenging world out there.

Second, we make the most of every opportunity (v16).  We don’t bash people over the head with our faith; but if an opportunity presents itself, we’re not shy about shining our light.  This calls for wisdom to discern the true opportunities, as well as courage to take them and grace to trust the outcome to the Lord.

Finally, we understand what the Lord’s will is (v17).  These daily reflections are a small attempt to help us do just that – but, however you like to organise your bible reading time, the same truth applies: the more we understand, the better equipped we’ll be. 

How we need wisdom at present!  The world seems to have changed radically, even in a few weeks.  But we have an anchor – a hope that is steadfast and certain; and we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).  So, let’s be wise; let’s hold fast; let’s pray for the peace that transcends understanding to guard our hearts each day.  And may the Lord grant us all grace to make the most of every opportunity, whenever and wherever they come.  Amen.

Friday 21st February – Ephesians 5:3-14 ‘Living as children of light’

God has lots of names in the bible.  Scholars debate (as they always do) exactly how many – what counts as a name? – but it’s at least 24, and, if you count every descriptor or title, you can get a total as high as 967!  Only an awesome Lord can be truly honoured in such a rich way.

Nevertheless, despite all these wonderful names, only three nouns are applied directly to God in the New Testament: God is love, God is light and God is Spirit.  Since our new self is ‘created to be like God’ (4:24 – see Wednesday’s reflection) it follows that our lives should be characterised by exactly these three qualities.  Yesterday we looked at what it means to live as children of love.  On Monday we will reflect on what it means to be filled with the Spirit.  Today, Paul encourages us to ‘live as children of light’ (v8).

The basic assumption here – and a glance around the world makes it immediately clear that this is as true as ever – is that there is a lot of darkness around.  We can see this in operation at the global level – but also in the everyday.  Most of the behaviour patterns Paul cautions against in verses 3-5 are all, at some level, things which drag us into the darkness.  In fact, you could argue that large-scale ‘darkness’ is ultimately the accumulation of lots of little ‘acts of darkness’.  Lying, obscenity, unfettered greed becomes commonplace…

Our calling is different.  As Jesus taught, we are ‘the light of the world’ (following our Lord, the original Light of the World).  Our job is precisely to shine into this darkness.  Paul’s words here are strong: ‘not even a hint’ (v3), ‘out of place’ (v4), ‘no inheritance’ (v5), ‘do not be partners’ (v7).  It’s sobering stuff – but Paul knows what’s at stake here.  ‘You were once darkness,’ he reminds his readers, this was your reality… ‘but now you are light.’

So, we shine.  And, as we shine, the darkness gets exposed – that’s what verse 11 means: not that we’re all whistleblowers (though some may be called to that), but that our lives naturally shine into the dark places.  It’s amazing how much communities can change when the ‘children of light’ shine brightly.  For example, many UK towns and cities who have Street Pastors have witnessed a significant drop in crime on Friday and Saturday nights.  ‘A city on a hill can’t be hidden… Let your light shine, that people may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’ (Mt 5:14,16)

In closing, though, Paul reminds us that light needs a source – and here he quotes what might be one of the earliest Christian songs: ‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’  It is Christ’s light that shines on us first – and then through us.  Today, pray for that light to shine brightly in your life; and may the Lord graciously point that light wherever he desires.  Amen.

Thursday 20th February – Ephesians 4:30-5:2 ‘Living as children of love’

In recent years, you may have heard the phrase: ‘pay it forward’.  It means that if we receive a gift or some sort of kindness, instead of paying it back to the original giver, we ‘pay it forward’ to someone else – in other words, we pass on the blessing or kindness we have received, blessing others in the same generous way we have been blessed.

The phrase actually goes back a to a book written in 1916, ‘In the Garden of Delight.’  There, the author Lily Hardy Hammond reflects, ‘I never repaid Great-aunt Letitia’s love to her, any more than she repaid her mother’s. You don’t pay love back; you pay it forward.’  However, the idea is much older than that.  A Greek comedy written in 317BC by Menander, ‘Dyskolos’ (meaning ‘The Grouch’) uses it as its main plot twist. 

Most significantly for us, it forms a key element of biblical thinking about discipleship.  We love because Jesus first loved us.  We pass it on – we pay it forward. This is the central idea of today’s passage: (vv1-2) ‘Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us.’

It’s a simple, but profound principle, but a couple of things are worth noting.  First – and we meet this again and again in this wonderful letter – it flows out of our identity: we are God’s ‘dearly loved children’.  We can’t really live this kind of life without that deep sense of being God’s beloved.  As Christ’s love fills our hearts – daily, repeatedly, fully – so we are empowered to love others. 

Second, it is costly.  This kind of love is not ‘sonnets and flowers’, but sacrificial.  Christ gave himself up for us; our calling is to keep on giving of ourselves to others.  The kind of virtues Paul describes at the end of chapter 4 – kindness, compassion, forgiveness – are too easily sentimentalised.  They can hurt; they cost us something.  Yes, we receive great blessings as a result – God’s designed it like that, he’s not a killjoy! – but it’s not easy. 

Finally, love is incompatible with certain things: bitterness, rage, slander, malice.  Life throws challenges at us, and it’s natural for some of these things to start to fill up our hearts.  Paul’s advice is blunt: get rid of them.  Don’t let rubbish fill up your heart – put it where it belongs: in landfill!

To live this kind of life is both the hardest, and highest, of callings.  We cannot do it in our own strength.  So, today, start where this passage does: let Christ’s love fill your heart.  God gave everything for you, you are his beloved child.  Believe it… receive it… and then go pay it forward.

Wednesday 19th February – Ephesians 4:20-29 ‘Put on the new self’

Here in the UK, I suspect most of us are waiting eagerly for the warmer weather, aren’t we?  After what seems like endless weeks of damp, cold, grey weather, we’re longing for more light, a bit of sunshine, a milder wind.  It will come – eventually!  And when it does, we’ll enjoy changing our clothes – the thick jumpers and coats will slowly be replaced by lighter tops and summer jackets.  A new season usually means new clothes.

It’s an idea Paul picks up on in today’s reading. Having warned his readers yesterday not to stay stuck in old, self-absorbed and self-destructive patterns of living, today (and in the coming verses) he sets out an alternative way of living, ‘in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus’ (v21). 

Here we should note a modest evolution in Paul’s thinking.  He is consistent throughout his letters that following Jesus represents an entirely new way of life.  Indeed, it is nothing less than becoming the people we were designed by God to be.  In his second letter to the Corinthians, written a few years before this one, he says this: ‘If anyone is in Christ – new creation!’ (2 Cor 5:20)

Now, in his letter to the Ephesians, he picks up the same theme, but also emphasises that this act of new creation requires co-operation on our part.  Having been ‘made new in the attitude of our minds’ (v23 – absolutely of work of God, since it requires the gift and indwelling of the Holy Spirit), we are then ‘to put on the new self.’  We put this new self on – we don’t create it (Paul reminds us straightaway that this new self is ‘created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’ – we are still the Lord’s handiwork) but we do have an element of choice.  We can choose to align with the Lord’s will for our lives, or stay stuck in the ‘old ways’. 

As Paul encourages us all to give our active support and effort towards living the kind of life God longs for us to live, he naturally slips into the language of clothing.  For example, we must ‘put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour.’ (v25)  We also need to put off festering anger (v26), stealing (v28), and dirty talk (v29), replacing them with making up quickly, generous sharing and words which build others up.

Think of each vice and virtue as items of clothing.  We are new creations: it would be silly to hide our ‘new selves’ under old clothing, wouldn’t it?  Take off the grubby old threads of winter and put on the new clothes of spring!

Take a few moments today to reflect on the new self which the Lord is creating you to be.  What old garments is the Lord calling you to shed?  What new ones do you long to put on?  Pray for continued grace to receive and wear these new clothes, that we might live joyfully and hopefully ‘in true righteousness and holiness’.  Amen.

Tuesday 18th February – Ephesians 4:17-21 ‘Futile thinking’

One of my favourite books is ‘English Eccentrics’ by John Timpson.  It’s a rollicking good read, an uproarious guide to the stranger fellows I can number among my countrymen (and yes, nearly all of them are male – which probably tells you something).  Perhaps, not surprisingly, the longest chapter of the book covers clergy, including such luminaries as Robert Hawker, appointed Vicar of Morwenstowe in 1835.  Timpson elaborates:

‘He discarded the standard cassock and wore… a yellow blanket with a hole in it for his head… in which he toured his parish, riding a mule and accompanied by his pet pig.  He took his other pets into church with him: a small dog which he sat on the altar steps and a covey of cats which sat almost anywhere, though one was excommunicated for catching a mouse during a sermon.  He conducted his services wearing red gloves, for no obvious reason.  At weddings he would unnerve the bridegroom by throwing the ring in the air before it was handed to him.’  You get the drift…!

Today’s passage makes it clear that Christians are to be distinctive in the way they live – although perhaps not quite like Rev. Hawker!  Nevertheless, this is something considered so important to emphasise, that Paul ‘insists on it in the Lord’ (v17).  We are not to live like those around us, who do not share our faith – but what is fascinating is that Paul locates the root of our behaviour in our minds.  He rebukes non-believers for the ‘futility of their thinking.’  As we believe, so we behave.

The contrast is clear: as a result of their ‘darkened understanding’ (v18), much of the culture lived in sensual excess and greed, a spiral of self-destructive behaviour (v19).  ‘That, however, is not the way of life you learned,’ notes Paul soberly (v20).  Christ offers us a new way of life – but this way of life starts with our thinking.  Paul puts it concisely in his letter to the Romans: (12:2) ‘Do not confirm to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.’  A new mind leads to a new life.

Tomorrow, and in coming days, we’ll reflect more deeply on what this ‘new life’ looks like in practice.  Today, though, let’s pray for more wisdom, that we might have the kind of ‘renewed mind’ that leads to a transformed life.  And let’s pray, too, for any we know and love who are trapped in self-destructive behaviour patterns.  Christ offers us a new way, a new hope; this hope has saved us – may it continue to save others, too.

…with or without a covey of cats in church!

Monday 17th February – Ephesians 4:14-16 ‘Speaking truth in love’

Some years ago, when our family was taking our summer holiday in the Gower peninsula (lovely part of the world!), we decided to go kayaking in the bay near where we were staying.  It was a sunny morning, and our children would have been 8 and 7 years old at the time.  The kayaks were for two people, so my wife and daughter went in one, and my son and I went in the other.

It all started well: we kayaked out about a quarter of a mile from the shore – still well within the bay – but then the wind started to get up.  The clouds rolled in and within five minutes we were battling through driving rain and choppy water.  I started paddling as hard as I could straight towards the shore, with my increasingly frightened son in the front of the boat doing his best to help.  For some minutes it appeared that we were making no progress, the shore just seemed to be getting further away.  It had long since ceased being an exciting ‘experience’ to laugh about later, and I was starting to panic myself… and then, almost as quickly as it arose, the wind died, the rain stopped and suddenly we could see that we were 100 yards closer to the shore than we had been a few minutes previously.

Ten minutes later, we were back at the beach – with my wife and daughter’s kayak thankfully right alongside us. We still had half an hour left on the time we had paid for – but a quick look at my family’s faces told me that no-one wanted to paddle out again!  We’d had enough of being tossed back and forth by the waves for one day…

As it turns out, we couldn’t have had a better insight into today’s passage than that adventure in the bay.  We now know what it’s like to get caught in a storm out on the water – and, as Paul explains to his readers, it’s a good image of what it sometimes feels like to follow Jesus in a turbulent world.  Culture tosses us about, this way and that – there are ‘winds’ of teaching (v14), which blow us in one direction, and then another.  We can feel at the mercy of forces outside our control – a small, fragile community struggling to survive in a dangerous world.  How do we survive?  Overcome, even?

The answer lies in two simple, but immensely powerful things (v15) – truth and love.  The truth which sets us free, the love which empowers us to live fruitfully in that freedom.  And let’s be clear that we need both – truth without love is harsh, love without truth is weak; love and truth together are world-changing – unbeatable.

The context of Paul’s advice is his inspiring vision of the church, founded on good leadership and growing towards unity and maturity (as we saw in the last two reflections, vv11-13).  Today we see why the formation of a church like this matters so much.  We have an ocean of challenges to navigate: so, we need each other, we need to be a strong, mature body which rides the waves, and which – empowered by the Spirit of Christ, the great gift-giver – ‘grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work’ (v16).

As we begin this week, give thanks for ‘The Church’ (global) and your church (local) – let’s pray that we continue to grow and be built up, as all of us play our part.  And may the Lord fill us with truth and love, for whatever we face, today and this week.  Amen.

Saturday 15th February – 1 John 4:7-21 ‘The Source of Love’

A reflection for Valentine’s Day, which was yesterday…

In 2016, a new app was launched: ‘what3words’.  The app divides the world into tiny squares 3m wide by 3m long and creates a unique 3-word name for each one.  It wasn’t long before pretty much every serious walker or traveller put this app on their phones – if you get lost or have an accident, you just send your 3-word location and a rescue team can pinpoint your location exactly, and not have to comb a mile of wilderness trying to find you.  It literally saves lives.

The world defined in 3 unique words.  And here in this passage, we discover three words which condense all of the glorious wisdom of Scripture into three fundamental words, which take us to the heart of life itself: God is love.

But let’s be clear as to what kind of love is being described here.  It’s not romantic love, or patriotic loyalty, or even based around things that we like or enjoy – though it can include bits of all of those.  It is bigger and deeper than that.  It is love defined as selfless giving.

This kind of love is Christ-centred (v9).  It is also Christ initiated: ‘This is love,’ John says in v10, ‘not that we loved God but that he loved us.’  So often we start from human images of love and work back to God.  But the deepest form of love comes from God, and we can only truly find it in him.  God loved before we did – and as we receive this divine kind of love, then we find capacity to share that love with others.   As we receive, so we give – otherwise the well runs dry.

This is why we have to centre ourselves in Christ, the heart of God’s self-giving love – as we do that, so his love fills us, and flows out of us into others: v17 ‘This is how love is made complete among us… in this world we are like Jesus.’

And not only this, the power of fear in our life is reduced: ‘there is no fear in divine love – perfect love drives out fear.’ (v18)  To abide in this healing, cleansing, divine love helps us to live through that same love, and not the fears that whisper in our ear.  We no longer need to be right, or important, or liked, or needed.  We can simply give ourselves in love, as our Lord directs.

Today, let’s re-centre ourselves by inviting this awesome, self-giving divine love, this love of Christ, to enter our lives afresh and make us whole.  And may God grant us grace to overflow in this love: back to God, and out to others.  Amen.

Friday 14th February – Ephesians 4:11-13 (ii) ‘Equipping God’s people’

Power corrupts.  It’s a basic principle of human behaviour, witnessed repeatedly throughout history.  Sadly, despite thousands of years of human civilisation, it’s as true today as it ever was.  And you won’t have to look hard to find articles and media content at the moment about leaders around the world – much of it concerned, even anxious, and rightly so.

Today’s passage is a healthy corrective.  What does true, godly leadership look like?  Like Jesus, would be the obvious answer.  But, if we were to probe deeper, what Paul says in these verses sets a template that all leaders should follow: the primary task of leadership is to equip other people to flourish in their lives.  Or, as Paul puts it here, referring to leadership gifts in the church: ‘to equip his (Christ’s) people for works of service, so that body of Christ may be built up.’

Good leadership blesses others.  It equips them to live fruitfully, and to grow as a community.  Note the individual and corporate elements in this – personal and collective flourishing.  Leadership ultimately gives itself away – at least, leadership as Jesus intended it to be.

Verse 13 also gives us some pointers as to whether we’re heading in the right direction: the first is unity.  A healthy, flourishing community practices Christlike unity.  Not uniformity, necessarily – unity.  In other words, what binds us together is always more than what divides us.

The second is wisdom: we develop a deep ‘knowledge of the Son of God.’  Leaders impart knowledge – both in word and deed.  Most of it is probably caught rather than taught.  It reminds us that, in the body of Christ, wisdom is dispersed across the body – it’s not held tightly by the leaders; it’s shared, for the benefit of all.

Finally, maturity.  The word here is ‘teleios’, which is the same word Jesus uses in the Sermon on the Mount.  It’s often translated ‘perfect’ but it’s best understood as ‘complete’, ‘the finished article’. Whatever the nuance is, it’s basically what Jesus intends us to be: ‘Be teleios, as your Heavenly Father is teleios.’ (The words from that famous sermon, Matthew 5:48)

Today’s passage is one of my personal favourites in all scripture.  It gives an inspiring vision of the body of Christ as it’s meant to be – a body I want to be a part of!  May the Lord raise up churches like this, led humbly and flourishing widely.  And may all of us find our true place in them.  Amen.

Thursday 13th February – Ephesians 4:11-13 ‘God’s gift of leaders’

‘Where are all the APEs in church?’  This was the provocative title of a seminar I attended a few years ago – well, you would, wouldn’t you, with a title like that?!  And no, it wasn’t about the ineffectiveness of the church’s mission among primates – although I’m sure that might be a topic for another day… the APEs in question are to be found at the start of today’s passage.

St Paul is developing his theme of God’s gifts.  Yesterday we looked at Christ the great gift-giver – today we get on to some of the actual gifts, as well as (tomorrow) their purpose.  In particular, he focuses on what are now known as the ‘leadership’ gifts of the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  To return briefly to the seminar, what the convenor was challenging us about was that the church has lots of Pastors and Teachers, to nurture the flock – but not enough Apostles, Prophets and Evangelists – A P E or the APEs of the title.

Apostles are pioneers, the people who break new ground.  Evangelists are gifted in bringing people into the kingdom.  Prophets have an unusual capacity to see what God is up to (they are vital to the work of apostles and evangelists, as they can sense where these other leaders should be investing their energies). 

Without these three gifts, the pastors (alternative word for shepherds) and teachers lack people to nurture.  But it is also true that first three gifts tend to sit uneasily within the natural structures of the church, since their heart is always to reach outside it.  Somehow a healthy body of Christ needs to find its APEs, and give them enough freedom to live out their calling – out on the frontiers, where ‘church’ gets especially messy and boundaries are blurred.

It is, of course, where Jesus spent a good proportion of his time.  Not all of his time – and here, as always, we need to keep a sense of balance; Jesus was the world’s best pastor and teacher as well – but certainly enough to challenge the church in every generation to prioritise pioneering, evangelism and prophetic vision.

Ultimately, these all are the leadership gifts of the church because they reflect the character and calling of Christ himself – the original apostle (‘sent one’, from heaven to earth) who proclaimed the good news (‘evangelion’ – the root word for evangelist, literally a ‘declarer of good news’), spoke prophetic truth to power, and was titled both the ‘Good Shepherd’ (John 10:11) and ‘Teacher and Lord’ (John 13:13).  It follows, then, that Christ gifts those who come after him to exercise these callings now, and in each generation.

So, today, let’s pray for our church leaders – whichever of these gifts they exercise.  Pray that God would raise up more APEs!  And also that God would continue to call pastors and teachers, too.  We need every gift to reflect the fullness of Christ’s mission.  And tomorrow, we’ll see why…

Wednesday 12th February – Ephesians 4:7-10 ‘Christ the victorious gift-giver’

About 20 years before Paul wrote this amazing letter, the Roman Emperor Claudius travelled to Britain and defeated the local population in a decisive battle at what is now Colchester.  He built a temple there to mark his victory and then returned to Rome where he was granted (not that the Senate had much choice!) a ‘Triumph’.  This was a great procession through the centre of Rome, where the conquering general/emperor would ride magnificently at the head of his army, whilst captured soldiers would trail behind.  The Triumph was an occasional but important cultural landmark, one with which most citizens of the Roman Empire (of which Paul was one) would be familiar.

It also sets the background for today’s passage, which picks up another theme Paul wrote about numerous times in his letters: the unity and diversity of God’s people.  If the focus yesterday was on our unity, the focus today is on our diversity: ‘But to each one grace has been given as Christ has apportioned it.’

This theme will occupy our attention for the next few days – however, what is unique about Paul’s treatment of it in Ephesians is where he starts: with Jesus as the conquering King.  He uses a quote from Psalm 68, which long predates Roman imperial triumphs, but paints a similar picture of God as the conquering King, receiving gifts from his people – and sharing them in return.  (NB There is a lot of debate about whether Paul misquoted the psalm, either accidentally or deliberately; however, various translations of the time, which Paul might have used, refer to the king in Psalm 68 giving gifts – so his usage here is fine!)

We’ll see tomorrow that the ‘gifts’ King Jesus distributes are what we usually refer to as spiritual gifts – given by the Lord to build up God’s people.  But the point is that King Jesus distributes these ‘according to his gift’ (the literal translation of v7), as the overflow of his great love (2:4) and incomparable (2:7) and boundless (3:8) riches.  He is the One who fills the universe (v10), and so is not limited in the grace/gifts (it’s the same root word) he can share – there is plenty to go around!

Before we explore the purpose and value of these gifts in more detail, Paul reminds his readers what it cost Jesus to become the conquering King.   The great victory came through immense personal sacrifice: he ‘descended to the lower earthly regions’ (v9), which I think refers to more than just his incarnation in the world, but also to the depths of the crucifixion.

And yet, he overcame!  ‘Up from the grave he arose…’  He ascended ‘higher than all the heavens’ (v10), and now pours out his loving authority to bless his people.  To each one of us, Christ apportions his grace, which we know is sufficient for us.  Pray today for this grace to abound in you – and may we all worship this glorious One, who fills the universe, with our hearts and our lives.  Amen.

Tuesday 11th February – Ephesians 4:3-6  ‘The power of one’

The diversity of the worldwide church is extraordinary.  Every culture and every society is included.  In fact, in every country in the world there is at least one follower of Jesus – and for many, following this path to life comes at great personal cost.  Christians are also remarkably flexible in terms of the places where they gather; in our parish alone, we have churches meeting in every type of building: mediaeval, modern purpose-built worship centres, a number of schools and community centres – even, on occasions, the local pub.  Church happens when Christians gather together, and the history of the church proves that this can happen anywhere – in caves, in prisons, in shopping centres and even on rubbish dumps, in the case of one fantastic church serving destitute people in Cairo.

But what holds us together?  What are the things we can agree on, which represent the glue for this vast diversity of humanity?  Here in Ephesians chapter 4, St. Paul gives us the vital clues.  To start with, as we saw yesterday, we all have a common calling: to ‘live a life worthy of the calling you have received’ (v1).  As we’ve seen in the first half of the letter, we share an identity: chosen children of God, forgiven and freed and brought into God’s family – and this calling stirs us to a grace-filled life of gratitude.  A life marked by humility, gentleness, patience and love (v2).

But we also share common convictions, a core of truths that bind us together (vv4-6).  We worship one God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are part of one Body – the universal and worldwide family of God.  We profess one faith in this glorious Trinitarian God, and (almost universally) acknowledge one special way of declaring and signifying our faith: baptism – in water and the Spirit.

This is the power of one – one hope for the world, and for ourselves.  It creates a ‘bond of peace’ (v3) which overrides all our differences, and keeps our eyes fixed on the true and deeper realities which we share. 

The unity of the church is not just something to treasure (which it is) and a source of great strength and comfort for all who are part of it (which it is, too) – it is also a prophetic witness to a divided world.  It is powerfully counter-cultural.  It’s easy to miss this – on Sunday at our church we will welcome a family, whose child was baptised last week, during which the minister will use these words: ‘There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.  NNN, by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body.’  The words are taken from this very passage, but they are more than just nice words of affirmation; they declare something truly radical – the global unity of the family of God.

So, today, let us celebrate what holds us together, what unites us as one big family of God stretching throughout the world.  I like to picture it as millions of lights scattered across the globe, worshipping the one true Light of all.  May it stir us to gratitude and to prayer, and also to renewed energy and vision – a vital part of a life worthy of the glorious calling we have received.  Amen.

Monday 10th February – Ephesians 4:1-2 ‘Worthy of our calling’

When I was young, I used to love the game ‘Consequences’.  Most people my age or older will probably remember it: you gather in a circle and each of you starts with a piece of blank paper and begin by, say, writing the names of two people.  Then you fold over the paper and pass it to your left.  The next thing you write might be ‘met (somewhere)’ – write in the meeting place.  Fold paper – then write on the next segment what they did… what the first person said… what the second person said… and the consequence was…  Then you would all unfold your pieces of paper and read out what had been written – hopefully with some comic scenarios!

What makes the game work is that you don’t know what’s been written beforehand – the consequence may have nothing to do with the previous text; in fact, the more wildly different/ weird/ unlikely, the better. 

Strange as it may sound, there’s more of a risk that we might take this kind of approach to the spiritual life than we might imagine.  We don’t always stop to think through the consequences: why do we live like we do?  Or, to put it another way, is there a natural consequence between what we believe and how we live.  Does the ‘consequence’ fit?

The second half of Ephesians (chs 4-6) is like the ‘consequence’ to chapters 1-3, which describe in wonderful depth and detail who we are in Christ.  Having got to the end of chapter 3, the big question is, therefore – if this is who we are, how then should we live?  Paul makes this transition very clear in the first verse of ch4: ‘I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received’ – the ‘calling’ being everything he’s shared in the first half of the letter. 

So, what does this ‘worthy’ life look like?  What’s the consequence? 

What’s fascinating is where he starts.  It’s all about character.  I used to teach the book of Ephesians to people who had just become followers of Jesus, and what I usually found is that enthusiastic new believers wanted to know what they needed to do.  They wanted some rules!

That’s natural… but Paul puts the brakes on that approach.  What matters is that what you do flows out of who you are.  This is the whole thrust of the first half of the letter. It’s about identity – who we are in Christ.  And, having won our hearts, our loving Saviour will now set about slowly transforming us from the inside out, cultivating Christlike virtues: ‘be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.’  The qualities of our Saviour, now being generated through his life-giving Spirit in us.

It’s a quiet revolution.  Not so much do – be.  This is what a life worthy of our calling looks like, first and foremost.  As we begin this week, may the Lord grant us all grace to live this kind of life.  May his Spirit continue that transformative work – ‘to the praise of his glory.’  Amen.

Saturday 8th February – Ephesians 3:14-21 (iii) ‘Grace and peace in action’

If you were asked to give a three-word summary of the theology of the Christian faith, what would you say?  The early church’s first answer was probably this: Jesus is Lord!  But its second answer – and certainly Paul’s other main answer – is this: grace and peace.  As we saw in our very first reflection in this series, it’s how he starts all of his letters, including this one.  God’s grace leads to our peace.  Salvation, and the life that flows from it, in one simple phrase.

Chapter 2 of Ephesians then goes on to outline grace and peace in more detail.  The first half looks at how God’s wonderful grace saves us; the second half, how Christ’s atoning work brings us near to God and also to others – he is, therefore, ‘our peace’.

As we look one more time at this awesome prayer, my final reflection is simply that, alongside all the other marvellous layers and dimensions to these extraordinary verses, it is also a prayer for grace and peace in action – or, you could say, the outworking of grace and peace in our lives.

So, here’s a prayer for what grace looks like in action: (vv17-19) Paul prays that we ‘being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’

Note how the language echoes chapter 2 – we are rooted in love, just as grace is rooted in God’s great love for us (2:4).  And as we grasp just how much Christ loves us, so we are filled to all the measure of the fullness of God.  This grace empowers our lives.  This grace enables the love of God to fill us so much that it overflows to others.  Grace is meant not just to be received, but to be passed on.  It energises us to live a life of love.

It’s the same with peace: (vv16-17) ‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.’  He doesn’t mention peace directly, but he does mention spiritual strengthening in our inner being.  What are the fruit of the spirit that comprise this strengthening? Love, joy and – yes – peace!  Christ dwelling in our hearts produces real growth of character.  We live with peace, and other virtues, in our hearts. 

This is a prayer for a life, a heart, captivated by God’s grace and peace.  This is a prayer for us and for our church.  Our hearts, our churches, are to be oases of God’s grace and peace.  And we can pray this prayer because Paul starts and finishes it by reminding us of the source and the means of these life-transforming virtues: the Lord himself.  We don’t manufacture grace and peace – but we know where to go to find it: (v14, v20) ‘For this reason, I kneel before the Father… to him who is able to do immeasurably more… be glory.’

As we close our week and another remarkable chapter in this letter, may this be our prayer.  And may grace and peace be ours in abundance this day, this weekend, always.  Amen.

Friday 7th February – Ephesians 3:14-21 (ii) ‘Faith hope and love’

‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’

So concludes Paul’s great hymn to love in 1 Corinthians 13 – beloved of wedding ceremonies, and rightly so.  It is not sentimental love, but gritty, real love – manifested in patience, forgiveness and trust.  It finds its necessary companions in faith and hope – for without these, you could argue that true, self-giving love would be impossible to sustain.

Although the idea of faith, hope and love forming some sort of ‘holy trinity’ of virtues finds its greatest expression in Paul’s iconic hymn, it’s not the first time we encounter this in his writing.  Indeed, it appears that Paul used this as a shorthand for our blessings in his earlier ministry.  One of the earliest letters – possibly the earliest, 1 Thessalonians – begins like this: (1:2-3) ‘We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.  We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Faith, hope and love… only this time they also produce transformative outcomes: faith produces fruitful work, love produces self-giving labour and hope gives us endurance for the journey of faith. 

Fast-forward about ten years to this letter to the Ephesians and Paul’s great prayer picks up the same themes of faith, hope and love, and prays them for his readers in yet another marvellous way.  The prayer broadly splits into three main parts: the first prays for faith: ‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.’

The second prays for love: ‘I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…’

The final part is rooted in hope: ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…’  He may not use the word, but a prayer to the one who can do more than all we ask or imagine: what else is that a prayer for, if not for hope?!

What is so powerful in all of Paul’s reflections on these virtues is that they are not just ‘feelings’ or ‘values’ – they produce transformative outcomes.  Faith enables Christ to really dwell in our hearts – we can sense his presence daily.  Love is not just something to grasp, but to know at a deep and intimate level.  Hope inspires to pray confidently, trusting in the One who can do what seems to us impossible.

Faith, hope and love.  As we pray this prayer today, may we, like Paul, be filled with praise: ‘to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen!’

Thursday 6th February – Ephesians 3:14-21 (i) ‘The great invitation’

You might it isn’t possible for this letter to get any better!  We’ve hit so many heights already, what else is there left to say?!  But, at this point – and after a modest diversion of twelve verses (3:2-13) when Paul stops to reflect briefly on his own role in the family of God – we get to one of the great peaks of all scripture: Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, and by extension all believers.

There’s so many dimensions to this prayer, you can never really exhaust its riches.  It’s also not one I would dare to break up into chunks, it would be like looking separately at the Mona Lisa’s face, then her clothes and then the background!  Much better to dwell in this text for three days, looking at the whole of it each time, but emphasising a particular facet.

Today, then, I’m going to look at what it says about God in its most essential form: God as Trinity – one Being with three natures: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The important thing we have to realise is that scripture treats the Trinity as a reality, but doesn’t define it systematically.  It was the Church which did that later, and, whilst the insights of great theologians such as Tertullian, Athanasius and Augustine are foundational to our understanding of who God is, it’s vital that we don’t reduce this extraordinary doctrine to a puzzle that needs to be solved.  Rather, what we have is a great invitation from God to experience a three-dimensional relationship with him as a reality.

We see this approach here in Ephesians.  The Trinity appears regularly, right from the start: verse 3 of chapter 1 talks about God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and every spiritual blessing – which could equally be translated ‘blessing of the Spirit’.  Similarly in verses 13-14 of chapter 1, we are included in Christ, given the promised Holy Spirit and described as God’s possession – which here most likely refers to God the Father. 

Chapter 2 verse 18 is perhaps the most concise expression of how the Trinity works in all of scripture: ‘For through Jesus we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.’  But, even if this one verse lays the foundation of much of our Trinitarian theology, it was not written for that express purpose.  Paul invites all of us to know God as Father, Son and Spirit as a lived experience and in multiple ways, and his prayer at the end of chapter 3 reflects that. 

In today’s passage, he kneels before the Father (v14) and prays for us to be strengthened with the power of the spirit (v16) so that Christ may dwell in our hearts (v17).  He then goes on to pray for that same power (of the Spirit) to enable us to grasp the depth of Christ’s love, that we may be filled with the fulness of God (the Spirit and Christ, as well as the Father).

For each of us to grow into mature faith, we need to cultivate a relationship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit.  Each part matters – to know that we are God’s beloved children, to imitate to example of Christ, to be empowered and transformed by the Spirit.  Where might you most need to focus at the moment?  Why not pray to receive that invitation, to experience that reality more fully?

If you have time, why not spend a few minutes reflecting on Andrei Rublev’s famous icon.  Here we see Father, Son and Spirit in a perfect relationship of love. The side of the table nearest to us is open: we are all invited to join them.  Will you?

Wednesday 5th February – Ephesians 3:10-13 ‘Freedom and confidence in Christ’

The first two chapters of Ephesians are possibly the most theologically rich chapters in all of scripture.  As I observed at the start of our series, it’s as if Paul is cramming all his decades of wisdom, reflection and experience into a unique distillation of what it really means to be a follower of Jesus: who we are in Christ, what blessings we enjoy, what it means to be a united body of Christ globally.

You might think that he’d said more or less everything that could reasonably be said about our spiritual blessings; however, in today’s passage he references one other outcome of these blessings, which he hasn’t referred to yet: (v12) ‘In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.’ 

Freedom and confidence.  This might sound obvious at first sight; but when you think about it, is actually quite a mind-blowing thought. Our God is a great big God – to coin a phrase!  The Creator and Lord of the Universe, the One whose Son holds all things together and will one day return as Judge; the King of kings and Lord of lords.  You might think it would be hard to approach this God – certainly terrifying.  That would be what we might expect of any other (earthly) ruler.

To return to King Henry VIII, whose court we referenced a few days ago.  We stopped at the point when you entered the throne room.  But what happened next?  How did you approach the king?  Well, you had at all times to face towards him (never turn your back on the monarch) and inch forward slowly, legs bent, head bowed in order to present your business to the king.  King Henry even changed the form of address – it was no longer simply ‘your grace’ or ‘your highness’, but from 1519 ‘your majesty’ (Emperor Charles V had recently adopted this form of address and Henry couldn’t bear to be outdone.)  In short, it was a constant reminder that Henry was great and you were not, Henry was powerful and you were not, Henry held your life in his hands. 

Henry’s bombast was no different to the great rulers of Paul’s time.  Imagine, then, what it must have sounded like to Paul’s first readers to hear this: ‘we may approach God with freedom and confidence.’  Wow!  No bowing and scraping, no cowed pleading – thanks to Jesus, we have a full and free invitation into the heavenly throne room.

This sense of the freedom we enjoy in Christ is one repeated in several other letters of Paul (1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians) and also by James and Peter.  Confidence, however, is much less mentioned – only once in 2 Corinthians.  I think this emphasis here in Ephesians is significant.  It is possible for us to be free, but not confident.  We might believe in principle that we have access to God, but not take God up on this access, as it were.

Paul’s encouragement, however, is that we can be both free and confident in approaching God.  Followers of Jesus are warmly invited into the throne room.  God does not grant this amazing privilege grudgingly, but willingly. 

Take a moment today to reflect on this awesome truth.  Pray for grace to really believe it.  And take that step of faith: approach the Lord’s loving throne and ask for all you need.

Tuesday 4th February – Ephesians 3:7-11 ‘The boundless riches of Christ’

We hear a lot about enormous wealth today.  Certainly, the figures quoted can be mind-boggling.  Last week’s stock-market dip caused by news of a cheap AI competitor wiped about $600 billion off tech share prices; indeed, the spectacularly wealthy individuals who own some of these tech companies lost about $100 billion in their own personal wealth.  In a day.  For context: $100 billion is roughly enough to provide permanent housing or accommodation for every homeless person in America…. or buy malaria vaccines for the entire continent of Africa.

Most of us can’t imagine it.  It is, literally, unimaginable wealth.  But there is someone who is even richer.  Much, much richer in fact.  This person’s riches are not just unimaginable, they are inexhaustible.  The word that Paul uses in today’s passage is ‘boundless’ (v8).

And not just boundless – eternal (v11).  One thing we know about all these other individuals’ spectacular wealth is that it doesn’t last.  They can’t keep it themselves beyond their own lifetime; and, even if they do pass it on to their relations, it does eventually disappear.

In a world which monetises everything, we urgently need to recapture a sense of what true riches are.  Here in this passage, Paul gets us on the right track.  The One we need to look to is none other than Jesus Christ.  Everything that makes us truly rich – love, joy, peace, hope, purpose, relationship, security, forgiveness, community, not just in this world but the next, too – is found in him. 

Paul was given this ‘secret’ – indeed he discovered personally that no-one is beyond Christ’s love, and this awesome revelation fired his passion to share this ‘secret’ with as many as possible (vv8-9).

We live in difficult times, and many of us will always face the temptation to worry about money and other material provision in our lives.  May we find true hope and inspiration in today’s passage.  According to God’s eternal promise, Christ has all the ‘riches’ we really need.  What do you need to ask him for today?

Monday 3rd February – Ephesians 3:1-6 ‘The mystery of Christ’

Many of us love a good mystery.  Flick through any TV guide, or scroll through any streaming service, and you’ll see dozens of ‘mysteries’: whether detective dramas, natural history and science programmes, true crime, reality TV, or quiz shows.  In each instance there are mysteries to solve, even if the mystery sometimes is: why would anyone choose to watch this?!

Some mysteries are much more serious.  We all have hard questions we can’t answer, often based on our own life experiences, or those of others.  God is bigger than our limited minds can fully grasp – it follows, then, that we can’t explain everything about the life, the universe and everything.

There is, though, one mystery that is perhaps more important than any other in all of history.  And thankfully this mystery has been comprehensively revealed and declared to a waiting world, fully two thousand years ago.  The mystery is this: who really has access to God?  Or, to put it another way: who can know life forever and share in God’s eternal rest?

Many cultures have tried to answer that question, and the answer is usually that access is restricted to certain people.  Any faithful Jew of Paul’s generation would naturally and automatically have said that the Lord chose a certain people as his own, and only those either born or grafted into that people would receive their divine inheritance.  This is what Paul himself believed for many years; so passionately that he viciously oppressed others – followers of Jesus – who disagreed with him. 

But this same Paul had a revelation (v3) – one so powerful it changed his life.  It’s what he now describes to his readers as ‘the mystery of Christ’ (v4): one which was not revealed to previous generations of faithful worshippers of God, but is now clear to see (v5), and which Paul has been uniquely commissioned to share with as many people as possible (v2).  In fact, he is so convinced of his calling to do so, that, not only is he repeatedly imprisoned for it (v1), he also disrupts the flow of this letter for a whole chapter to remind his readers what it is….

The mystery is simply this: thanks to Christ, everyone now has access to God.  Christ opens the door to all peoples, all races and cultures, all ages and backgrounds: rich, poor, young old.  All who come to Christ are heirs of the same inheritance, all part of God’s global family, which they all share equally (v6).

We’ve looked in detail at these amazing truths in previous reflections; however, as we begin our week, what Paul does here is a healthy reminder that we can never repeat these blessings too often.  It is the best news we ever heard!  Like Paul, may we never lose that sense of awe, of wonder, that this glorious mystery has been revealed to us, that we might share in its life-giving love and power.  And may the Lord direct our paths to pray for those we know who we’d love to embrace this mystery… and, who knows, maybe we can play a part in ‘revealing’ it to them?

Saturday 1st February – Psalm 27 ‘The Dwelling’

As we conclude our week, a beautiful Psalm which looks at yesterday’s theme of the temple as the place where God dwells…

At the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Show at Tatton Park in July 2023 there was a very unusual entry: it was a garden based on this very psalm – Psalm 27 – and was sponsored by the Bible Society.  Its designer was a young man called Ollie Pike, and if you want to find out the inspiration behind it, you can view that here.

Ollie first heard the Psalm at a funeral, and it really touched his soul.  ‘It really spoke to me of hope and courage,’ he says, and these are sentiments which King David, the author of Psalm 27, would certainly have agreed with.  As is often the case, David writes the psalm in a situation of peril.  On this occasion we don’t know the particular threat, but he talks about ‘the wicked [who] advance against me to devour me’ (v2), and ‘the desire of my foes… spouting malicious accusations’ (v12).

Where does David find hope and courage?  (v1) ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?’  Yet, this remains contested territory in his soul, so to speak; there is anxiety lurking in his cries of vv7-8: ‘Hear my voice when I call, Lord… do not hide your face from me.’ 

Ultimately, in this psalm David finds his refuge in a particular place, which forms the heart of his prayer: (vv4-5) ‘One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.  For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling.’

The temple was the place where God dwelt; and viewed today through the lens of the New Testament, the extraordinary truth for followers of Jesus is that we are now the temple, because the Lord now dwells in us, by his Spirit – both as a community (Ephesians 2:21-22) and as individuals (1 Corinthians 6:19).  Wow! 

We can, therefore, ‘dwell’ in God right now, right where we are; we can gaze on the Lord’s beauty and seek his face.  For Ollie Pike, the verse that speaks most to him is near the end: (v13) ‘I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.’  May that be a verse of hope and courage for us, too – and, today, may God grant us grace to be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord.

Friday 31st January – Ephesians 2:21-22 ‘Built together’

Today we return to the temple image one more time.  Before we unpack that, let’s take a moment to remember the actual temple which stood in Jerusalem at the time Paul wrote this letter.  This was called the ‘Second Temple’ and it was vast, and monumentally impressive.  Although the Holy of Holies – the central building – was built to specifications prescribed by the Lord (90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high), the whole Temple Mount complex ran to some 36 acres and included several different court areas, as well as hundreds of feet of colonnades.  It had to be big – any of the major festivals would attract tens of thousands of pilgrims, often more the doubling the actual population of Jerusalem.

Imagine, then, the power of what Paul is saying here: you are the temple now.  God lives in each of your hearts by his Spirit.  But, more than that, he also lives in you as a community.  Yesterday, we discovered that the cornerstone of this new temple is Jesus himself, and its foundations are the apostles (i.e. Jesus’ chosen leaders and the teaching they gave which formed the New Testament) and the prophets – and this includes not just the Old Testament prophets but those gifted after Pentecost with the gift of prophecy, too. Since a prophet literally means a ‘mouth’ for God, then what Paul is saying is that the foundation of the church is not its human structures, but the voice and direction of the Lord. 

With those foundations, then we, as a community of believers, each with the Spirit in our hearts, can be built into a spiritual building where God dwells, sharing the love of God with each other and reflecting that love to the world.  We are all, if you like, stones in that structure, each important to the stones around it, each a part of the whole structure.  If your stone isn’t there, there’s a gap and a weakness!

This building, at one level, is never complete – it rises, Paul says: in other words, it keeps being built, new stones keep being added.  So, unlike the original temple, it’s never finished as such, because God keeps building it.  But, as it keeps growing, this simple truth endures: God dwells here, in our community of believers.  Our worship to the Lord is like the beams which hold it together, our care for each other is like the cement between the stones. 

As we give thanks today for the awesome privilege that God dwells right here, with us, let’s resolve – and pray – to look after this temple.  After all, it’s where the King lives, by his Spirit.

Thursday 30th January – Ephesians 2:19-20 ‘Christ the Cornerstone’

On 19th March 1882, the cornerstone was laid for a major new church in Barcelona.  Originally conceived as a beautiful, but fairly conventional, late-19th century design, the project was taken over a year later by Antoni Gaudi and completely transformed.  Today, in 2025, 143 years after the laying of the cornerstone, it is still being built – and due for completion next year!

It is of course the world-famous Sagrada Familia. I’ve been privileged to visit the basilica twice – in 2002 with Alise and then again with Alise and the kids in 2012.  It is my favourite building in the whole world, and apart from its stunning and unique beauty, what makes it so special, so exciting, is that it’s one of the only places in the world where you get to see a majestic holy place being built right before your eyes.  We often marvel at how the great mediaeval craftsmen could build churches with basic tools and wooden scaffolds – and the Sagrada Familia gives you a window into that world.

In this final section of chapter 2, Paul reminds us that another wonderful building is also being built before our eyes: the household of God.  We’ll look tomorrow at how this ‘holy temple’ includes all of us, how we all have part to play in this divine building project.  Today, though, let’s start with the fundamental item which holds it all together: the cornerstone – who is, of course, Jesus (v20).

From the moment of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus becomes the new temple.  He made this very point in the Gospel of John: ‘Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in 3 days.’  What a strange thing to say!  Never mind 140 years for the Sagrada Familia, or 500 years for the Second Temple, in whose courtyard he was standing at the time; here he was, saying he could rebuild it in 3 days?  But his friend John understood the meaning: ‘the temple he had spoken of was his body.’ (John 2:21)

From the literal body of Christ to the spiritual body of Christ – we are now built on Jesus, ‘the chief cornerstone.’  In doing so, Christ’s wonderful atoning work reverses all the ‘barriers’ in vv11-13 we looked at on Monday (v19).  We were foreigners and strangers – but are now no longer so.  We were without God, but are now fellow citizens of God’s people.  We were without hope, but are now members of his household (with all the privileges and blessings that confers).  Finally, we were separate from Christ, but are now built on him, our Cornerstone.  We even have the firm foundation of the apostles and prophets to rely on.

A cornerstone is solid, secure, immovable.  Christ is that for us!  May that thought give you hope today, and may he grant us all grace to plant our feet firmly on this Rock.  Amen.

Wednesday 29th January – Ephesians 2:16-18 ‘Peace near and far’

There’s been a lot of big, historic news over the past week.  In particular, the haunting commemorations at Auschwitz on Monday and the fragile ceasefire brokered in Gaza last week have reminded us, in their different ways, of the continuing need for, and value of, peace. 

Peace is a word with many facets or dimensions.  The original word in the bible is the Hebrew shalom, which is usually translated ‘peace’, but its meaning is much broader: it means completeness or wholeness, the sense of everything being put right, perfected.  This kind of shalom is much more than merely the absence of conflict, it is an active state of complete wellbeing. 

The great Old Testament prophecies, particularly those found in Isaiah, also promised that a new era of peace was coming, with a unique focal point: a child would be born, who would carry divine authority, and would usher in and oversee this restoration of all things.  And this child will have wonderful names, including perhaps the loveliest of all, the Prince of Peace.  Or, to use the original word, the Prince of Shalom. 

When Jesus was born, these great prophecies were fulfilled: the Prince of Shalom had come!  No wonder the angels cried out at his birth: ‘on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests!’ (Luke 2:14).  And in today’s passage, Paul makes it clear that Jesus brought this divine shalom through both his life and his death.  In his ministry, Jesus did not just preach peace to those who were near, who expected to receive it, but also to those who were far away: think of the widow at Nain, the Gentile centurion, the parties he attended with unrespectable ‘sinners’, the Samaritan who was the only one of ten returning to thank him.  Jesus reached out to those who had been excluded, and welcomed them in.

He also supremely achieved peace through his death – indeed, alongside bringing peace between us and God, Jesus also put to death our human hostilities and divisions on the cross.  From that point on, all of us – every human being – can come to the Lord on an equal footing.  It follows naturally, then, that if we all have equal access to God, then there is no need for ‘them and us’ tribalism.  There are no second-class citizens in heaven: (v18) ‘through Jesus we both [you could say all – Jews and non-Jews] – have access to the Father by one Spirit.’

Christ is our peace, bringing all of us who were far away from God near to him; Christ is our peace, bringing groups that were hostile to each other into the same redeemed and renewed humanity.  Today, may the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  And may we pray for and share that peace, that shalom, with others.  How might you do that today?

Tuesday 28th January – Ephesians 2:14-15 ‘One new humanity’

Last week we celebrated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  It’s a worthy aim, and vital to our credibility as a witnessing body of Christ, as Jesus himself prays: ‘Then the world will know that you sent me.’ (John 17:23).  But sometimes it’s worth asking: what is the true basis of our unity?  It’s tempting to reduce it to something vague and ‘cuddly’: the sort of ‘all you need is love’ message popularised in the 1960s.

The truth is much deeper and more profound than that.  It lies at the heart of what Jesus achieved through his death and resurrection, and forms the focus of our passage for today.  To set the scene: it is a fundamental part of our fallen human condition for humans to be divided.  We naturally find ourselves drawn to ‘them and us’ ways of seeing the world.

These divisions are even reflected in the worshipping life of God’s chosen people, as evidenced by the architecture of the old temple at Jerusalem.  There were several ‘courts’ in which people could gather, but access was restricted to some of them.  For example, the ‘dividing wall’ Paul refers to in v14 is not just an image, it was an actual wall in the temple:  between the Court of the Gentiles (i.e. non-Jews, which anyone could enter) and the Court of the Jews (which only Jews could enter).  The wall itself was no less than five feet thick!  A huge physical sign of a spiritual separation.

The amazing news that Paul communicates to his readers here is that, thanks to Jesus, this wall has been destroyed.  The barrier between God’s historic chosen people and the rest of humanity has been removed.  Not literally at this point – though that would actually happen a few years later, when the Roman army sacked the temple in 70AD – but spiritually, and permanently.  All people now have equal access to God through Jesus.  No more walls! 

We can all enter the presence of God, because Christ’s atoning work deals with our failure to obey him, regardless of whether we are Jews or from another culture; this is the meaning of that difficult phrase in v15, ‘setting aside in his flesh the law’.  The Law was designed to help us live right with God, but in fact it only served to emphasise how far we all (whatever our background) fail to manage it.  It condemns us, rather than frees us.  So, it needed to be ‘set aside’ – and, thanks to Jesus our Peace, it was.

And, as Paul emphasises, this access is not just to save individuals, but to create – or re-create, you might say – a new humanity: (v15) ‘His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.’

This is the true basis of our unity.  We are part of a new humanity, set right with God and freed to live in love with him and in peace each other.  Beautiful unity indeed!  In a world still fractured by division, how we need this glorious good news more than ever.  Why not pray for our sisters and brothers today, all across the world – including Messianic Jews (who follow Jesus) and those living in any countries dear to your heart – that we would truly live as a one new humanity, declaring the praises of the One who brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light.  Amen!

Monday 27th January – Ephesians 2:11-13 ‘Brought near’

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of one of England’s most famous kings, Henry VIII.  Arguably no monarch in British history ruled with more power than King Henry in the later years of his reign.  To get an idea of the splendour of his court, Hampton Court Palace – his usual seat of government – was typically attended by up to 1,000 courtiers.  Access to the king was strictly controlled.  First there was the courtyard; then the Great Hall for more distinguished guests.  From the Great Hall you entered the Guard Chamber – and finally, only the most elite, or those with permission to conduct urgent business, would be allowed from the Guard Chamber into the Privy Chamber, where the King would be sat under a royal canopy. 

In other words, it was almost impossible to get near the king.  In all likelihood, you needed favour with someone more important to bring you in from afar, and get you near to the throne.

In today’s passage, Paul describes a similar situation for those who were not originally part of God’s people.  In fact, he lists no less than five barriers blocking our path to God: we are excluded from citizenship in God’s people and foreigners to the covenants of promise – the specific blessings God had promised to his chosen people.  Add in the other three – separate from Christ, without hope and without God – our position appears utterly hopeless.  No possible chance of access to the Privy Chamber, then…

But now…. Here Paul gets to one of his great ‘buts’: (v13) ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’  It turns out there is someone who can get us, not only into the courtyard, through the Great Hall, past the Guard Chamber, into the Privy Chamber, but even right to the throne itself.  That person is Jesus. 

It is Jesus’ death on the cross that brings all of humanity, who were once far away, the opportunity to be near to God.  And, amazing as this news is for each and every one of us as individuals, the consequences run bigger than that.  What Jesus is doing is re-creating the people of God as the global body of Christ: a body open to everyone, of every age, culture and background, Jew and non-Jew alike.  It is the kingdom of the heavens available to all across the face of the whole earth.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the consequences of that in a bit more detail.  But today, let’s rejoice that this good news is for us.  Whoever we are whatever our background, Jesus’ atoning work brings us near to God.  We are able to stand in his presence, receive his eternal love and share our lives with him.

Now that you are near to God, what will you say to him today?

Saturday 25th January – Psalm 1  ‘The Tree’

As we conclude our week, a Psalm which looks at yesterday’s theme of a fruitful life rooted in God from a different perspective – using an image from creation.

The bible is full of rich images of what it means to truly live in the abundant life of God.  Psalm 1 describes one such (particularly good) image: the tree.  Our lives were designed by God to be like a tree.

I must confess that I love trees.  I love being close to them, just standing in their presence, admiring their size, their beauty, their dignity.  Trees are one of the greatest parts of God’s creation.  They heal, they shelter, they stand strong and firm in all weather.  They just are.  Or rather, they have been, they are and they will be. That sense of majestic permanence is part of their appeal.

God calls us to be like that: trees which reflect his glory.  Psalm 1 shows us why and how.  First, we need roots.  This psalm places our roots firmly in the Word of God – v2 delighting in ‘the law of the Lord’ – and the Spirit of God. The biblical image of water in v3 usually connects with God’s presence, so this tree planted by a stream can easily be understood to mean one who is constantly refreshed by the water of God’s presence – his Spirit.

Second, we bear fruit.  We all know that spring is coming when the buds appear on trees – as they will be soon (hopefully!).  In summer those buds blossom into leaves and even fruit.  A tree ‘yields its fruit in season’ (v3). So should our lives.  Nourished by Word and Spirit, we stand where we are and bear fruit for our Lord.

Finally, this Psalm contrasts the rootedness and fruitfulness of such a person with the alternative.  Those who do not go deep with God ‘are like chaff that the wind blows away.’ (v4)  Blown here and there by wherever the current of our culture leads, such lives ultimately cannot prosper.  They may flower for a while, but the shaking of the wind proves fatal.

If you can, take a moment today to find a tree and spend time admiring it.  God is calling you to be such a tree: rooted in his Word, nourished by his Spirit, fruitful, strong and dignified.  You probably don’t feel much like that – none of us do – but by His amazing grace, that is what we can all become. 

Reading Psalm 1 today, how might you keep growing into this beautiful calling?

Friday 24th January – Ephesians 2:8-10 ‘God’s handiwork’

For Alise’s birthday last year, we enjoyed a host of creative opportunities.  We decorated bowls, made glasswork and also painted pictures.  I tried my hand at copying ‘Starry Night’ by Vincent Van Gogh, one of my favourite paintings: to be honest, my effort was mediocre (to put it kindly) – but just trying was great fun and hugely satisfying.

There’s something very precious about the act of creating.  It goes to the heart of what it means for human beings to bear the image of God.  It’s no accident that, straight after God’s great act of creation at the start of the bible, we’re told that human beings were made ‘in his image’.  This image of the Creator means lots of things – a unique capacity for relationship, wonder, intellectual curiosity and insight, organisation – but the most obvious element of this image is right there in front of us: we are creators because we bear the image of the ultimate Creator.

But God’s act of creation didn’t stop after the first two chapters of Genesis.  God is constantly creating; and his ultimate expression of that creative instinct is…. us.  This amazing passage of Ephesians ends with this fabulous phrase: we are ‘God’s handiwork’ (v10).  God is creating – or perhaps better re-creating – us into the people we were made to be.  The more we grow in faith and become like Jesus, the more we become truly ourselves.  There’s a thought for a Friday!

This act of creating is designed to have consequences. Unlike a beautiful piece of art, which is primarily created to be enjoyed and to stimulate our hearts and minds, God’s act of re-creation in us leads to ‘good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’  A beautiful life produces beautiful fruit.  People’s lives around us change for the better, the world becomes a slightly more loving place, the kingdom of God grows a little bit more.

This was God’s intention all along (‘prepared in advance’).  At one level it doesn’t matter that we probably didn’t know that!  What matters now is that God still has good things for us to do.  Even as we get older, that still applies: prayer is probably the most powerful ‘work’ anyone can do.  This is not about physical capacity but spiritual insight and obedience.

So, today, the obvious question, I guess: what has God got for you to do?  Even if you can’t answer that now, pray that you might get to the end of the day thankful that he used you in some way.  And, however the day pans out, never forget that you are God’s handiwork – his Starry Night (or insert whatever your favourite piece of art is here).  God loves what he is creating in you.

Thursday 23rd January – Ephesians 2:6-7 ‘Citizens of heaven’

When I visited Rome about 30 years ago, one of the memorable things that happened was that I nearly had my passport stolen.  (Lots of good things happened, too!)  I remember it was a blazing hot day, and I wanted to visit a particular church.  I was studying Renaissance art – or ‘brown pictures of Mary,’ as my provocatively uncultured friend used to call it – and there was an altarpiece I was keen to see.  I left my travelling companion sat outside – with my bag – while I went in. 

When I came out, she had gone a pallid white, despite the hot weather.  It turned out that, as she was resting, a couple of chancers had managed to pinch my bag; fortunately, she had spotted it straight away and shouted loudly to the whole street – at which point they dropped the bag and ran off.  ‘Good thing, too,’ I said.  ‘I’d left my passport in it!’  At which point she went an even more deathly white – and then red with rage at my stupidity!

We find ourselves in a time when questions of national identity are coming ever more to the fore again – if they ever went away.  Nationalism (and its accompanying divisions) is sadly on the rise all over the world.  Closer to home, the law takes an ever closer look at proving identity – passports are now required to do almost anything, it seems.  For example, I have to check them (or a driving licence) for every couple getting married in church – so they can prove that they are who they say they are.

Most of us are fortunate to carry a passport – I say fortunate, as it not only confers identity, but also indicates that we are able to travel – but today’s passage reminds us that every follower of Jesus has two passports: their physical one, and then their spiritual one, too.  When we come to Christ, we effectively gain a new citizenship.  Alongside our earthly citizenship, we also become citizens of heaven.

The amazing thing is that this citizenship starts now: note the tense of verse 6: ‘And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.’  Seated.  Past tense.  It happened when we came to Christ and believed in him.  In fact, what this amazing first part of the letter makes clear is that all of Christ’s blessings as God’s Son are conferred (through him) onto us, too. We are also chosen from eternity, adopted as his children, filled with his Spirit – and now, raised and seated with him in the heavenly realms.

What will one day be our final, eternal reality is ours in part right now.  We are citizens of heaven, carrying the Lord’s spiritual passport with us always, as we live on this earth.  Wow!  What a thought to take with you into this day.  And, as you give thanks for that amazing truth: what might that mean for you – to live as a citizen of heaven – today?

Wednesday 22nd January – Ephesians 2:4-5 ‘Great love, rich mercy’

Yesterday we looked at the ‘old ways’ – the habits and patterns of behaviour that define every generation of humanity.  The great question is, of course: if those are the old ways, is there a ‘new’ one?  How does God get us out of this mess?

Let’s affirm right at the start of our reflection today – only God can.  The evidence of thousands of years of human civilisation is that self-improvement is limited and temporary.  Without some extra help, the old ways remain largely in-tact.  Deep down, we all know this to be true!

The answer is… grace.  What Philip Yancey calls the ‘last, best word’ of the English language.  He defines it thus: ‘Nothing we do can make God love us more; nothing we do can make God love us less.’ 

Grace means that God takes the initiative.  He does it because of who he is – rich in mercy – and how he acts as a result: with great love for us.   He does it regardless of whether we love him, or even acknowledge him.  He does it anyway, risks rejection, keeps moving towards us; and if we respond he doesn’t exact his pound of flesh, he rejoices and showers his blessings upon us.  Like the father in Jesus’ famous story of the lost son, he simply chooses to forget our long rejection of him.

It is a gift – indeed the word ‘grace’ in Greek basically means ‘gift’.  We get what we don’t deserve i.e. life instead of death: ‘God… made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.’  It is God Riches At Christ’s Expense.  Grace.

How the world still needs grace!  Most things run on ‘ungrace’ – you get what you earn, you reach the level you deserve, and if you mess up, you pay the price.  Grace declares to a tired and thirsty world: Jesus paid the price on your behalf, so that God can make you whole (that’s what the word ‘saved’ means).

This short passage truly forms the beating heart of our faith, our good news.  God makes us alive in Christ, thanks to his great love and rich mercy; thanks to what Jesus did for us, through his cross and resurrection.  Take some time simply to rejoice in this truth, to praise our great God, and to live in the light of his glorious grace – today and every day.

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.

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!