In Church, we recently started going through the book of Ephesians. One of the challenges our Pastor had was for us to read through the whole book, twice each week. Since it is only 6 chapters, not a hard task. I really like to listen to the Bible using the YouVersion app! So I started to read through it the first week and I was almost overwhelmed with all the great things in this book. So I decided I would blog about it. In Church, the first message was on verses 1-2 the Greetings. I am going to start with this, since it is full of wonderful truths.
Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul was an apostle of Jesus, he was chosen by Jesus to represent Him. An Apostle is an Envoy, ambassador, or messenger commissioned to carry out the instructions of God. So with this, we understand the authority that Paul has in writing this book.
Paul is writing this book to the Christians in Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus. So we know that the intended audience is believers. We also know that they are faithful in Christ. But what is the purpose of this book – they did have their issues as we will see later on in the book. But he is acknowledging that they have put their trust in Christ.
We are all sinners. We all fail to meet up to God’s standard of doing what is right. The punishment for our sin is death. But God loves us so much, that while we were still in our sin, He sent His only Son Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. But Jesus, being God, did not stay in the grave, He rose again and is living in heaven preparing a place for us to live forever with Him. Be sure to join us, by turning away from your sins and turning to God – asking Him to forgive you and to be your Lord & Savior.
God will give us grace and peace when we have turned to Him in all things. Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards us. We did nothing to earn it – even if we try our best – we cannot earn our way to heaven. Everything we do is like filthy rags. But God, chose to love us and gave us a way thru the blood of His only Son. When we confess our sins and turn to God, we will be surrounded with a peace from God – that goes beyond our understanding. We just need to take that 1st step.
I hope you will join me on this journey thru Ephesians. 🙂
Amen!! May your days be filled with grace as well!! We always get more than we ever deserve! Praise God!