Sharers in the Promise!

DAILY READING

Ephesians 3:1-6

DEVOTION/REFLECTION

Chosen to be Sharers in the Promise!

by Tom Richards

Do you remember playing games as a kid where teams had to be selected? (We actually had a ritual with a bat to determine who chose first when playing baseball!) Do you remember what it felt like to wonder if you would be picked? For some, maybe that was never a problem. But for others, maybe you were the youngest, or the smallest, or just not one of the better players. Maybe some thought you were not “worthy” of being picked. But if you were picked, do you remember the relief and excitement that came with knowing that you were chosen – that you were part of the team?

Today we read about a mystery “which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”

Since most of us at UALC are gentiles we need to let these words from Paul sink in. We have been chosen to be on God’s team. No, not God’s team, but chosen to be members of his family! It is not because we deserved to be chosen. It is not because we possessed some special skills or because we were “righteous”. No, it is because of God’s love and grace. Paul refers to this in verse 2 where he says “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.”

How thankful we are for this undeserved gift. How thankful we are to be chosen, to be desired so much by the God of the universe that he sent his only Son to die on our behalf. John 1:12-13 is a favorite verse of mine that seems to sum this up nicely: "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."  Amen!

PRAYER PRACTICE

Spoken Prayer – Out loud, pray for God to speak to you through your reading. Praise God for giving us His word. Ask the Spirit to help you read with faith, and to live out what you hear from God through the passage.

Heirs together

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--( Ephesians 3:1)

We face many different types of dissent in our daily living. Often, the workplace is a prime target for backbiting and unhappy people. If there isn't a strong relationship with our co-workers, it can be hard to enjoy the job. If the supervisors don't present an open and honest environment, unnecessary competition takes over and tensions escalate.

Unrest of any kind is detrimental to the well-being of its people, its members. It is the workplace, the family unit, even the neighborhood. We aren't always going to agree, but we can still get along and even respect each other's point of view.

We find Paul in jail, a "prisoner in chains for Christ," as he calls himself. The conflict in our text today is between believers and politicians - sound familiar? Paul had been arrested because he took a stand for the equality of Jews and Gentiles as Christians. The Jewish leaders saw this as radical and destructive so they imprisoned him.

God got a hold of Paul and revealed that Jesus Christ truly was the promised Messiah of the Jews and a light to the Gentiles, thus ending the life Paul lived before. The life of persecution and hatred. In a flash of light, God changed Paul's life and therefore yours and mine too.

Paul's conflict wasn't with the followers of Jesus any longer, but with the religious leaders whose mission it was to put an end to them. Once God gets a hold of us, we are changed too. Any conflict we have with our Christians brothers and sisters must be dealt with head on, with honesty and love. That is what separates us from the rest of the world.

Like the lyrics to the song go:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

And we pray that our unity will one day be restored

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side...etc.

Ephesians 3:1-6