LENTEN READINGS AND REFLECTIONS

DAY 31

Reading: Paul's Letter to the Ephesians

Paul's Letter to the Ephesians was intended to be sent to a number of churches surrounding Ephesus so it contains more general theological instruction and ethical instruction.

Paul's focus in Ephesians is God's grace. Grace is the undeserved mercy and goodness that God pours out on sinners.

That would be us.

Paul says that before God gave us his grace, we were dead in sin. What does it mean to be dead in sin? It does not mean that we literally dead. It means that we were spiritually dead. We had no desire for or love for God. This deadness, teaches Paul, is the natural state of human beings. Because of original sin or the “fall” human beings are born spiritually dead to the things of God.

But while we may be dead to God, God was not and is not dead to us.

While we were still dead in our sins, Paul says, Christ came to die on our behalf. There was nothing we did or could do to earn or deserve this. The act of salvation God accomplished on the cross was done wholly and purely out of God's love for us, his gracious love.

That was what God did objectively speaking. He came down in the person of Jesus Christ to die on our behalf to bear the punishment for our sins and then he rose to destroy the power of death.

But for you as an individual God did even more. You and I would never turn to Christ and put our trust in him if left to our own devices. If our salvation depended upon our own unaided will we would never be saved. We were dead in our sins.

But God, Paul says, chose you in Jesus Christ from the very beginning of Creation. Before the stars were created, before he spoke the universe into existence, God knew you and he loved you. He chose you to be in Christ. He gave you the grace to turn from your sins and believe in Christ.

This is a hard thing to understand because when we come to Christ it feels so very much like our own choice and our own unaided decision.

But Paul is very clear. You and I were dead in our sins. No one would believe if God had not first given us the power to do so. He gave us his grace to believe. And once you believed he applied the gracious benefits of the Jesus' death and resurrection to your account.

It is by grace that you were saved says Paul.

This deals a terrible blow to pride. You and I cannot say that we are in Christ because we are any wiser or smarter or in any way better than anyone else. We are in Christ because God loved us when we were still dead in our sins.

So how should we then respond to God's grace?

Paul says we are to take the grace that God has given us and pour it out on others. We must submit to one another, set aside our “rights” and entitlements and give grace to our brothers and sisters.

Husbands are to love their wives like Christ loved the church and wives are to submit to their husbands like the church submits to Christ. Both the love of the husband and submission of the wife are acts of grace. You give it whether the other person deserves it or not.

Children must obey parents even when the parents are unfair or overbearing and parents must not exasperate their children even when frustrated.

Slaves are to obey masters even though slavery is cruel and evil, not to support the institution of slavery, Paul was no fan of slavery, but to pour out the gracious love of Christ on those who do not deserve it, even the slave-master, and thereby bear witness to Christ and possibly provide the vehicle through which God changes hard hearts.

What role does grace play in your life. If you are a believer you have received an abundance of grace. Have you given it?

Think of someone in your life who does not deserve good things, someone who has wronged you in the past.

What would it look like to pour out the grace of God on that person?

God has called you to pour out his grace on others. Will you do it?

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