Today I’m sharing some of the most impactful things I have learned while studying Ephesians 1. I’d love it if you told me what most affected you from this chapter!
Season One
I really like TV. I know I probably shouldn’t say that. Because “good” Christians don’t watch TV. But here I am, admitting that I like TV. I watch a lot less TV than I did before I became a mom. (For obvious reasons.) And my TV consumption has gotten more picky as I’ve matured in my faith. I’ve come to understand the importance of what I put into my mind, even passively. (Which is a different topic altogether.)
Have you ever been watching TV and been several seasons in and thought: How’d we even get here? Then you wrack your brain for what happened in those early episodes. Or you go back and rewatch the first season. (I’m specifically remembering watching Lost all those years ago.)
Maybe you have a favorite show that you watch all the way through to the series finale and then cycle right back to season 1, episode 1. (The Office, anyone??) Suddenly you see how the whole series fit together. Then, you revel in the nostalgic beauty that is that very first episode. It perfectly lays the stage for the whole plot.
Sometimes it pays off to go back to the beginning and remember how the whole plot started.
Ephesians 1: God’s Redemptive Plan
Paul does this same thing in the opening chapter of Ephesians.
If you read my Ephesians primer, you know he is addressing believers in the ancient city of Ephesus. Paul kicks off his letter by going all the way back to the beginning. Or in this case, the prequel to the beginning. Before he begins giving instructions for Christian living, he answers the question: How did we get here? He takes readers all the way back to Season One to give them a fuller appreciation of the greater plot that has and is still taking shape.
Paul starts by reminding his readers (including you and me) where the path of redemption and rightness with God started.
You might be tempted to say that God’s redemptive plan started immediately after the first sin took place in the Garden of Eden. Paul, however paints a different picture.
You see, Paul tells us God’s plan for us started before sin. Ephesians 1 tells us this plan started before the Garden, even before Genesis 1.
…just as He chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
Ephesians 1:4, emphasis mine
Do you see the timeline?! God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless before the foundation of the world. Before sin ever entered the picture God had already chosen to make a way for us to be right with Him. There has never, even for one second, been a time that God didn’t have a plan for us to be with Him.
He knew sin was a possibility. But that doesn’t matter. Before the earth was created. Before Adam lost a rib, God had already decided that we could stand blameless before Him, if we stand before Him in Christ.
Decided Beforehand
In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will…
Ephesians 1:5 emphasis mine
Yikes. Predestined. That’s a scary, hot-button word. If we aren’t careful we can get into fruitless debates about the P-word. Don’t go there. The word predestined here is the Greek word proorizō, meaning “decided beforehand.” Let’s stick with that definition.
Not only did God choose us to be right before Him through Jesus, he also decided beforehand that we would be adopted as His children (and all the good things that come with being someone’s child.) We aren’t just nameless people able to stand blameless before a judge. We are God’s own children.
In love God decided beforehand that we would be:
- fully adopted (1:5)
- given grace (1:6)
- redeemed and forgiven (1:7)
- given an inheritance (1:11, 14)
- sealed by the Holy Spirit (1:13)
And all of this was decided according to God’s kind intentions.
God’s Kind Intentions
Here’s another thing I hate to admit. I’ve believed a lot of lies in my lifetime. One of the most damaging lies I have believed is that God’s intentions are not always kind.
I don’t know if I would have come out and said that I thought God was unkind. My thoughts on God’s character were tangled and confused and incorrect. What I believed about God’s character is too confusing to put into words right here in a way that you might understand. What I can tell you is that my behavior and thoughts did not reflect a heart that believed God is kind.
As with lots of deeply ingrained lies, I must remain diligent to dispel it any time it creeps back into my mind and my heart.
There are many places in Scripture we can turn to, to gain an understanding of God’s character, but Ephesians 1 has become my favorite. This chapter concisely tells us who God is and what His will looks like.
When I am tempted to believe that God is not kind, or that He should not be kind to me, I turn here.
I look at the verb trail and the timeline.
We see evidence of God’s kind intentions in how He made a way for us to be fully right and fully reconciled to Him before the earth was ever formed. Before we could ever do anything to earn or lose His kindness.
The Mystery of God’s Will
He did more than just make a way for us. He also let us in on the mystery of His will. Look at verse 9.
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him [Christ}…
Ephesians 1:9 emphasis mine
I can tend to have a selfish view of “God’s will.” (Maybe I’m not the only one?) When I talk about God’s will, I’m often referring to God’s specific will for me. I have been known to search high and low for His will–thinking that it is a grand mystery He is hiding from me…and if I could figure it out my life would be easier and more streamlined. (I told you I had confusing ideas about God’s character.) But Paul is telling us that God’s will is bigger than where we go to college or what job we plan to pursue.
Don’t get me wrong, those things matter to God….but don’t make my mistake. Don’t become too blinded by selfishness to see the grander, greater mystery at work.
God’s ultimate will is that we know Him. The mystery of God’s will is not whether I will write a book, have more children, get a “real” job or die of a moose attack in North Dakota. The most mysterious thing about God’s will is how a perfect, pure, wonderful God could ever reconcile sinful mortals to Himself.
The mystery has already been made known: that we can be right with God through the work Jesus did on our behalf. A work that was carried out because ultimately, God’s intentions toward us are kind.
God is kind.
Our Part
God decided before the foundation of the world that anyone who came to Him through Jesus would be holy, blameless and adopted. Our job is simply to go to Him in Christ, to accept the plan and put our faith in Jesus.
I hope you’ve already made that decision and this is just a nostalgic reminder of Season 1. But if not, now is a great time to accept God’s kind intention toward you. Step into His plan. He made a way for you to get to God through Jesus. It’s a mystery, but boy is it sweet.
