The Plan

Consider

In 62AD, four letters were sent from the dark Roman prison to the province of Asia. These works would prove to be instrumental in the understanding and advancement of the Christian Faith. If Rome had known the significance of these letters, the messengers would have been apprehended and the documents destroyed. When these four messengers said goodbye to Paul, they each carried an epistle bound for Ephesus, the Church body, Colosse, the Church Head, Philippi, Christian living and Philemon, Christian living in a pagan society. The letter to Ephesus presents the identity and activity of the Church. Chapters 1-3 reveal the heavenly calling from God’s plan to the peace through Christ and the eternal purpose revealed in God’s wisdom. Chapters 4-6 show the practicality in the unity with the Spirit, walking the walk, marriage, authority and the ever-raging war between God’s people and a scheming saboteur. An overall theme in Ephesians is “Love”. Paul starts and ends the epistle with this concept. He uses love as either a verb or a noun more frequently in Ephesians than any other of his letters. God is love, and he has chosen to express it through the people he calls to himself, the chosen. This agape love was so notable, profound and trans-formative in the young Ephesian church that later the most condemning critique by Jesus in Revelation is “that you [Ephesus] have left your first love.” The Church exists to express the love of God. God has equipped and empowered people to carry on this mission. Ephesus was the model example. Paul recognized that. That is why Ephesians is one of the most sophisticated theological letters in the Bible. Ephesus was mature enough to handle it. The question is, are we? If not, then we have some growing up to do. Are you ready? GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH 515 George Washington Hwy., Charlotte Court House, VA 23923 Robert Perrin, Pastor | 434-609-1168 | [email protected]