Ephesians 3:8-13

October 7, 2014

Ephesians 3:8-13

NOTE: During the week of October 6-10 I am taking a little vacation to tour Civil War battlefields, from Gettysburg to Harpers Ferry to Antietam to Charlottesville. During this week I am republishing my meditations from the first week in October last year.

Do you remember the little jingle from Coke commercials? “I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company.”

Therein is the wisdom Paul refers to Ephesians 3. God wants the whole world to sing in perfect harmony. That happens when men, women and children of every race, color, social and cultural background come together to worship God the Father. God wants to hold the whole world in His arms, and keep it company.

Paul says this is the mission of the church – to live this way, and to announce to the rulers and authorities that there is another and better way to be human. The rulers and authorities are not receptive to living in harmony with God, as evidenced by Paul writing Ephesians from his jail cell in Rome.

The rulers and authorities still today lay claim to their own little uniform and one-dimensional societies. Some of these societies, or special interest groups, we call Democrats, Republicans, etc. Others have denominational or doctrinal names. The bottom line is that, for so many of these groups, their focus is on excluding instead of including. It’s all about control.

Given the realities of living in the world’s culture, it seems Paul may be a bit of a Pollyanna in his hope for the church. But here we are, two thousand years later still talking about Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Across the world, the church is doing amazing things to model the love of God for all people. However, it is not in the church’s strength alone that the Kingdom advances. The power is in prayer, as Paul so beautifully models in our next passage.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.