Ephesians 5:18-20
“Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.”
“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul’s exhortation to drink responsibly implies the first century church drank wine. He warns against addiction, a risk with anything that gives us pleasure. The implication is Spirit controlled Christians ought to be able to control their consumption.
I must sing more often. (The Christian faith is the only one that includes singing in worship.) That means I must make the effort to memorize words. My head is increasingly stuffy, as if filled with cotton so it will not be easy. But the joy of praising my Master Jesus is powerful motivation. I’d like to be able to use any excuse for a song.
Lord, thank you for my voice. Grant me intellectual energy to memorize. Help me sing more. I sense it will become increasingly important as aging strips me of other forms of expression. This aging thing is hard. Help me do it well, for your glory.
Ephesians 5:16-17
“Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light! So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.”
““Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”
This is a call to live with purpose, every minute aware of the goal, the need, and the darkness. The last sentence exhorts us to know the Master wants. That means spending time with him in listening prayer. Otherwise, we only do what we think he wants, a tragic wasted effort. Only that prompted and empowered by God’s Spirit will stand for eternity.
Lord, I am weak in this. It exposes the frailty of my love for you. If I was truly in love I’d want to spend every moment with you and I don’t. I get called away by the world’s alure and urgency. Forgive me! Help me open my heart to you more often, enjoy being with you and listening well.
Ephesians 5:8-10
“You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.”
“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.”
This makes me think of a clear summer morning. The day is full of promise. I feel fresh and energetic. I see clearly. There are so many things I could do. But that is not what the text says. Only my path is lit. My world is still a dark place. These verses are not a call to easy living, but to a battlefield. Soldiering on my path, allowing the Lord’s illumination to shine, is a service to my fellow man. This is what pleases Christ.
Lord, how I need you help in this! I feel so small and vulnerable. I trust that you, in some mysterious way, use the little I can do, adding a bit mote of your light to the world. I haven’t much but what I do have is yours.
Ephesians 5:3-4
“Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some tongues just love the taste of gossip, those who follow Jesus have better uses for language than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.”
“Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.”
This isn’t about what we do, although we certainly shouldn’t indulge in any behaviors listed here. It’s about a new orientation that results in changed behavior. God’s saves us. Only then can we live and act in the way we were made to, achieving our ultimate functionality. Like a well-oiled machine, life is easier and eternally productive.
Lord, I long to live like this but keep getting caught in worldly brambles. I am overwhelmed by physical misery and loose faith to pray. I fight hopelessness and despondency. Forgive me. Save me, for I am adrift. Help me cling to you for my life and work depends upon it.
Ephesians 5:1-2
“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.”
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”
New Testament scriptures repeatedly tell us God is love. It’s one of the first things forgotten when religion takes over our thoughts and behavior. Yet it is one of the most important. Satan is especially eager to obscure this liberating truth with rules, pushing us back toward law. Let us learn to love God and each other as Jesus loves, extravagantly.
Lord, I struggle to get the idea of love into my heart. Only you can work your kind of love through me. Fill me with it. Let me extravagantly love by the power of your Spirit alone. May my life leave the imprint of your love in the hearts of all I meet each day.
Ephesians 4:20-24
“But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”
“But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
So how in the world do we,” Get rid of it?” This is impossible for me alone. Only God knows, among the thousands of options, which path is mine. And only he can get me there. Traveling with him is how I learn to be, “in Christ,” fully alive and fully participating in his body, the Church. Paul, in his eagerness to make a point, makes this seem like it should happen all at once. But this surgery been far less invasive in my life, removing one thing at a time and replacing it with the Lord himself. There is pain as in any surgery. But each time I recover from the procedure, I find life more exciting with wider vistas. I have found my pearl of great price, and I would not trade it for anything.
Lord, you amaze me! You are so big and wonderful. I could gaze at you forever. Thank you for taking such trouble to straighten out and transform your servant. Show me how to share this wonder of wonders with others. Help me be faithful in this, for your glory.
Ephesians 4:15-16
“We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.”
“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
Christ is the source of everything I do. When I am up against a wall the answer is always more of Christ. He keeps me from staggering about, gives me focus and direction. He is my only source of nourishment and I need to eat every day, even every moment. He alone raises me up whole and robust in perfect love. He is my model for loving and being.
Lord, I am your beloved creature. You have made me for love and relationship. Grace me to fulfill that destiny, learning from you and living for you every moment, every day.
Ephesians 4:10-13
“He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.”
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
Paul uses a living house as metaphor for the body of Christ. The Message interprets this with language that reminds me of a well-oiled machine, moving rhythmically, without friction between its parts, responsive to its maker’s control. It has good shock absorbers for bumps in the road and runs on perfect fuel, the Holy Spirit. Its capacity for work is enhanced by its billions of parts, each performing a vital role. It can transform the earth and comfort a child. It reflects its maker’s nature, pointing to the beginning and end of all things. Most of all it glorifies the One who redeemed it with his own blood.
Lord, what a privilege to be part of such an organism! You have redeemed me for this glorious occupation. Help me to perform my part well, serving my brothers and sisters and giving glory to you.
Ephesians 4:4-7
“You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness. But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.”
“For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.”
After defining our unity in Christ, Paul goes on to speak of our individuality. It is easy to err by defining what is ‘Christian’ and exclude those we don’t understand or feel at home with. Then we box God up into a manageable parcel and find ourselves upon his throne. It is clear by looking at the natural world God loves diversity. Let’s rejoice with him in the myriad expressions of faith in Christ. In essentials unity, in non-essentials charity.
Lord, you are the most imaginative being ever. Evidence shouts out of the natural world. Yet your greatest work is with us, each of billions uniquely gifted for a place in your schemes. Thank you for calling me. I rest knowing you have everything about my individual future in hand. It is perfect love and may it ever cast out all my fears.
Ephesians 3:20
“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
God created us for himself. This is more important than our present comfort and peace. He has eternity in mind. He moves the mountain of our self, transforming the deepest part of our being. His Spirit broods over us as a hen over her chicks, moving us toward the ultimate potential of our individuality. Truly, we are greatly loved that he takes such trouble over us. Amazing.
Lord, thank you for undertaking the raising of me, from spiritual infant to fellowship with you in eternity. By it I know you love me. It makes me want to love you better. Please help me!
Ephesians 3:18-19
“And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”
“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Earlier in the chapter Paul speaks of The Gospel as God’s secret work exposed, where Jew and gentile have the same position before God. This verse tells the rest of the mystery, that God is love. He need not be appeased and placated as the ancient heathen gods. This God loves, to the extent he himself did the appeasing on our behalf. And we can trust him as much as his high, wide and deep love for us.
Lord, you are beautiful. Your love for us is, as you, beyond our imagination. Thank you for calling me into a place in your family. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for showing the way.
Ephesians 2:20-22
“You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.”
“You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”
These words leave me awestruck, as they must have to those whom Paul wrote. We are all secure in belonging to God’s family. We have a place in this building only we can fill. We are part of God’s house and he loves living with us. His Spirit is the mortar holding everything together, the Lord Jesus locking everything into place. No more need for self-effort. We can rest truly in our forever home. Our focus is on being, loving, and being loved. There in no other god like our God!
Lord, when I am weary I long for this belonging, resting, and loving. Grace me to practice these now, in preparation for my eternal home. Sustain me with energy for my days. Help me spend it wisely. You are my wonderful, amazing Lord. I worship you.