Ephesians chapter 1 is full of some beautiful things.  Paul says “blessed be” (or) “praise God” for blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:

– He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world

– He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself

– He redeemed us through Christ’s blood

– He made known to us the mystery of His will

– He has given us an inheritance

– He sealed us with the Holy Spirit

Wow!  Praise God!

The letter to the Ephesians is a tie for my favorite book in the Scriptures (the other would be Romans).  I was reading through it this morning and there is so much that is there, beautiful Theology.  In chapter 2 we are reminded that all Christ followers were at one time “dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked.”  What a thought!  We were dead, spiritually dead!  The thought in and of itself we could spend hours discussing!  But, he tells us that we formerly walked in this consistently sinful way (a good reminder for us).  God is declaring to us that Christ followers are to live consistently righteous lives, not sinful lives. 

Living a new, righteous, spiritually vibrant life is reaffirmed in 2nd Corinthians 5.  The Text says that, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  Christ followers are new people, with new identities.  God the Father because of His great love for us has given us new spiritual life through faith in the death and resurrection of God the Son, with the new life being imparted by the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit. 

Do we live like we are alive now?  Do we live like we are God’s workmanship (work of art – Eph 2:10) created in Christ for good works?  I don’t know.  This is a radical way of life, a new way of life.  But, I guess God already said that.

My wife and I watched the film “One night with the king” a couple of nights ago, and overall I thought it was well done.  I decided to take a look at the book of Esther (which I haven’t done in awhile, it seems to be one of those books that ladies like to read more than men).  Though the God of Israel is not clearly referenced in the book, we are astonished at His sovereignty.  God’s promise to Abraham is again upheld as He delivers His covenant people from the hands of Haman the Agagite.  What a powerful thought, the sin of the nation has brought them to this place.  The grace of God is that which delivers them.

My resounding thought from this historical event is that God keeps His promises, inspite of those He has made promises to, including the Church (thank Him for that). 

I was reading in Mark 7:1-23.  Jesus said some pretty pointed things to the Pharisees in His midst, and to us that sit down the Word of God.  He confronts their traditions/preferences which were being disregarded by this rag tag bunch of Christ followers (who were very hungry apparently).  Jesus calls them hypocrites, ouch!  Then He goes on to say that they are not worshiping God through their lives.  They in fact are far from God and following men instead of God.  In fact He says that they disobey God through their traditions/preferences (not good)!  He goes on to lay out a description about what causes a person to be unclean/disobedient (heart issues, not food).  Jesus has now kicked off a completely new regulation for God followers (all food is clean). 

I don’t want to go into all the implications of new dispensation which is coming.  What I do want to highlight is that Jesus says many times we have these traditions/preferences (even programs) that we really, really like and there are times that because of these things we forget about people and God.  In fact we step on people and dishonor God through them.  Basically, what we are doing is more about our comfort than about obedience to God. 

Jesus says here that worship is obedience.

Romans 5:1-5

I read through the book of Jonah again to prepare for a series of talks on the book.  There are some very intriguing things that I noticed in the first chapter, besides the big fish.  The following list is a notation of those things:

– God notices sin and doesn’t like it

– When God tells you to do something, you can either obey or disobey

– Disobedience to God’s commands brings serious consequences

– Things don’t happen by accident, there is always a reason – but don’t be superstitious – this is true because God is in control

– When you are a child of God and you disobey, God disciplines you

– It is confusing to non-believers when believers disobey God

– People should be very cautious what they do to God’s servant

– No matter what the situation is God will use it to bring reverence to His name