Continuing in the study of Ephesians from the Jerusalem Bible: What joy it is to see that God had a plan from the very beginning that included us. In the first eight verses we saw the gifts of Blessings to the faithful, the plan of adoption into the family, the chosen of Israel, the Redemption of the Gentiles and the giving us the wisdom and insight into His word and purpose. Each of these gifts of God where ordained from the first. His plan when he began the creation of man. Now we enter into the really great stuff!
The other four gifts are found in the next verses. In fact if we wanted to we could divide these gifts into even more. As I go through them we will expand on these gifts and maybe call them six more gifts instead of four. But I prefer to still call them four gifts. Starting with verse 9; “[God] has let us know the mystery of His purpose, the hidden plan He so kindly made in Christ from the beginning to act upon when the times had run its course to the end:” It was the intention of God that we should know what he has planned. It is His desire that we have an understanding that everything that happened in the past had a purpose and that the purpose was that Christ would be offered up for us that we might become acceptable to the Father in Grace and Love. And it was the right time for these things to happen. Not only did Christ have to be presented as the perfect sacrifice, He had to be presented by the Gentiles (Romans)so that we could be included in the reconciliation. And that was the plan from the beginning. The course of man’s history had to reach this point, so that the sacrifice of Jesus would include us, the Gentiles. Verse 10 continues with this thought with another gift, God’s choice for the Gentiles. “That He (God the Father) would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in heaven and on earth.” (verse 10) In this verse we have the establishment of the “Church under Christ”. Jesus is the Head of the heavenly Church and the earthly church. Jesus is the One who Unites both the Jews and the Gentiles under the mantel of Salvation. The question for us is, are we uniting under Christ or are we contending with one another. Do we exhibit a Unity of Spirit with each other or are we questioning each other. If God intended us to be united as one people under Christ, why then is there so much non-conformity among his followers?
Thus we are brought together under the fifth gift; the claiming as God’s own chosen People. “And it is in [Christ] that we were claimed as God’s Own, chosen from the beginning, under a predetermined plan of the one who guides all things (Holy Spirit?) as He decides by His own will.”(verse 11) While many will claim that many are chosen not to be redeemed this passage does not claim that at all. It claims that it was predetermined that it was God’s plan to claim Gentiles as His own just as He had claimed the children of Abraham. It is not a setting aside but a joining together. And it is a joining by the will of God as to whom He chooses. And it sets aside some to be the evangelists, the preachers and the teachers. It calls to the Believers of Ephesus to become the extenders of the promise and the sharers of the word. While it does not express that in words here the evidence of that intention to be the examples of Christ and His workers is clear in the later potions of this letter.
We who have gained freedom and to be blameless in the eyes of God are now called to set ourselves aside for His purpose. We have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to be the chosen of God to his pleasure and purpose. We are shown the mystery of His Love and His Salvation to bring everything together through Christ. It is also God’s plan to guide us in the living of the Unity with Him. He does not leave us to fend alone but He has provided us with a support system called the Holy Spirit. So there we have it; not only have we been planned for from the beginning to be in Unity with Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit, but we are guided by the Holy Spirit to be in one accord with the Father of Mercy and Grace.
But the gift does not end there! No, it continues right into the next gift! Verse 12 tells us; “(We are) chosen to be, for His greater glory,the people who put their hopes in Christ before He came.” Now here Paul Is talking to the gentiles who had become “good fellows” or believers of Israel’s God but not been circumcised according to custom. They had the hope of salvation promised them in the teachings of many of the Jews. Just as many today want to believe yet still lack faith, they have hope of salvation but still have doubts. To them still is promised Christ. Just as the faithful among the Jews and the Gentiles who wanted to believe that Christ would come to restore them to the Father, we have many who yet still cling to fear that they are worthy of God’s Salvation. They have put their hope in Christ, but to the people of Ephesus, who had not known Christ, their hope was in the coming. Here’s the question; Having seen the Hope of Salvation, what can we do to ensure others may see the Hope Realized in Christ?
So it is the second part of the gift of Hope Promised that the next verse completes the promise, verse 13. “Now you too, in Him, have heard the message of truth and the Good News of Salvation,” This is the greatest part of the gift. And perhaps to some the greatest gift of all! And the end of the gift, in what is also a part of its wonder, is “AND HAVE BELIEVED IT(!)” Having the hope to believe in the Salvation, having heard it and now by the grace of God being able to believe it! there are many millions of people who have heard the Word yet do not have Hope of God, or Faith to believe and for those we must pray, but for those who did have hope and did hear and did believe, God has set them apart to be His own! What effort are we putting into the sharing of the message of Salvation? Do we let the world know that we believe? Who is to bring the message of Salvation if we can don’t demonstrate the Word in our homes, our jobs or the places we congregate?
Yet to me, as great as the gift of the message of truth is, it is not the one I want on my tombstone. Because it is the next gift that binds them together. It is verse 14 that completes it. In the Jerusalem Bible these verses are written as a poem. From verse 3 through 14, almost as a song to be song from the heart. And to me it is also a song to my heat for the last gift that sings to my soul. “And you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,, the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those God has taken for His own,to make His Glory praised.” We have a contract with God! This is the covenant that has been promised, that we are called God’s chosen people to praise Him. Promised of God the father, paid for by the Blood Sacrifice of Jesus and signed and witnessed by the Holy Spirit. A threefold covenant of God given to us without our having to do anything but praise Him! A contract of God given to Man for eternity, irrevocable because it is signed, guaranteed by God Himself in the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit! have you accepted as truth the Gift of the Trinity? That it is the Threefold Godhead that presented you with all the gifts? That it is God’s Plan that very aspect of His is in the Salvation, adoption and acceptance of man into His grace?
So here is the questions:
1) On gift four, how has God shared his purpose with you? Do you see yourself as a part of His purpose? What do you intend to do with your gift from God of having a purpose?
2) How has gift five,God’s predetermined plan guided you? As God has chosen to guide you in all things, what direction in your life do you need to redirect to reflect God’s guidance?
3) In the sixth gift, God put your hope in Christ and gave you the message of Salvation to believe. As it was the Hope of mankind to hear the Word, and to believe, what in your life leads you to expand on the faithfulness Christ has placed in you? Where are you best suited to share the Hope and the Promise and the Salvation the tChrist has given you?
and 4) And the seventh gift, the Holy Spirit’s stamp of approval and witness,is it fully accepted and used? As God is the provider of the Promise, the giver of the Promise and the Guarantee of the Promise, how can you show God that you are a respecter of the Promise And give Him the Praise worthy of Him? what changes can you make in your life that can demonstrate the praise and thanksgiving of the gifts?
