Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places," Ephesians 1:3
According to Hattiesburg’s Chamber of Commerce, the Hub ranks #2 as the best city to live in, offering compact suburbs and rural areas with a small-town atmosphere. With its diverse community and vibrant cultural hotspots, Hattiesburg is passionate about preserving and promoting its rich cultural heritage. Even though it is a highly-desirable place to live, like any other city, Hattiesburg still has its drawbacks with crime and high poverty rates.
Of the nearly 60 cities in Apostle Paul’s travel, the one he seems to have a special love for was Ephesus. Today, we open a new epistle from Paul, a fresh Word in a new city for a different group of Christ followers. Ephesus was one of the most important trading centers in the Mediterranean. Ephesus was “the hub” of significant Christian evangelism with Paul at the helm of it all. The Greek word “Ephesus” means desirable, and for Paul, Ephesus was desirable because he counted it as his home. Before his arrest and imprisonment in Rome, Ephesus was where he lived and worked for three years. It was a place where he planted house churches (Acts 18). For a time, his friend John and Jesus’ mother lived in Ephesus (John 19). While Ephesus had so many desirable features, it was a hotbed for witchcraft, the occult, and pagan worship of the goddess Artemis.
In the opening verses, Paul clearly shifted to a different tone than in previous letters. Readers do not hear his scathing discipline to congregants who rejected the Gospel, his disappointment in contaminating true worship with false theology, or his anger with insensitive leaders creating burdens on God’s people. Rather, Paul celebrates the abundance of God. Blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven, Paul’s heart was full.
Paul lists the spiritual blessings from heaven. First, the Ephesians were chosen as God’s adopted sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:4-5). They were showered with continuous grace made possible by Jesus’ death (Ephesians 1:6). Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, their past, present, and future sins were forgiven (Ephesians 1:7). God unveiled a divine mystery. What was then kept secret was now openly known as God’s plan for both Jews and Gentiles to share equally in the gospel of salvation and form one new people united in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:12–13; 3:3, 5–6, 9). Finally, through the Holy Spirit, they were sealed with the promise of a heavenly reward (Ephesians 1:14).
The Good News is all the spiritual blessings from heaven were not limited to those in ancient Ephesus. It extends generously and openly to every believer across the globe.
Cities can have all the accolades and winning social, political, economic, and cultural heritage, but Paul emphasizes that it does not matter where we are geographically. Because we have every spiritual blessing from heaven with God’s inclusive plan of salvation for Jews and non-Jews, we are home—at least until we are called to receive our heavenly reward.
Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.
Reflection:
- Is there anything about Ephesus that reminds you of your own home or other places you have visited?
- When you look at all your spiritual blessings listed in Ephesians, how does this impact your relationship with God?
- Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are my Jehovah Jireh, my Great Provider. Thank You for Your abundant gifts. Because of Your generous hand, I am forgiven. I have the whole truth in Your Word. My desire is to never allow a day to pass without thanksgiving and praise for who You are. In Your Son’s precious name, amen.
Family Devo: Ephesians 1
By: Lauren Strickland
When partnering with your family to know, love, and follow Jesus, we strive to create and share content filtered by the Head-Heart-Hands model.
Head: the knowledge of God and His Word | Heart: the personal connection from scripture | Hands: a missional mindset
Head
Ephesians is a letter written by Paul to the church in Ephesus made up of two groups of Jesus's followers: Jews and Gentiles. Jews knew all about God. They grew up knowing all the rules and religious traditions of their culture. They were proud of how much they knew and how well they followed the rules. This was their identity: how others recognized them. The Gentiles in the church, however, were brand new to faith! They hadn’t grown up hearing about God and they’d only just begun to know and follow Jesus. They didn’t know all the Jewish rules and religious traditions—they just loved Jesus. This was hard for Jewish people in the church (maybe even seemed a little unfair). They began to treat the Gentiles like they had to prove their new identity as Jesus's followers by how much they knew and how well they kept all the Jewish rules. Paul wrote to remind everyone in the church that their identity was not in their rules and traditions, family roots, or Bible knowledge, but in Jesus’s sacrificial love for them. This love shows up in the way they show love to each other. While they were at different places in their faith journey, they were together by God in Christ Jesus. They are part of God’s family, and because God’s family is forever, the Jewish and Gentile Christians were to love each other and stick together as one.
Heart
At our church, I see all kinds of people from all kinds of cultures and families with all sorts of life stories. I know people who have known and followed Jesus for a long time. They are so wise! I know people who have just begun to learn about Jesus and follow Him. They are so excited! And every week, people who do not yet know, love, and follow Jesus come to church because someone invited them. How awesome! I think so many different kinds of people come to our church because, at Venture, our identity is Jesus. We aren’t recognized by how much we know, where we’re from, or what we wear. People recognize Jesus in the way our church family loves and serves each other on Sundays and throughout the week!
Hands
Wherever you are on your faith journey, you have a safe and welcome place in our church family! There are people all around you (in KXP or Movement and in your House Church) who love you and will stick with you as you grow to know, love, and follow Jesus! (That’s what God’s Family will always strive to do!) And you can do this for others! There are four big ways we love and stick with others on their faith journey at Venture: We invite with intention, invest in community, impact by serving, and ignite through giving. Talk about how your family can walk with others on their journey to know, love, and follow Jesus:
- Name someone you can intentionally invite to church (or to dinner) this week.
- Name one way you might invest in community (House Church, prayer, or service to another family).
- Identify where your family can serve on Sundays and/or during the week.
- Talk about what you might give sacrificially to provide an opportunity for someone to hear about and experience the love of Jesus.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for my church family who loves me and sticks with me! Give me eyes to see ways to serve people at my church, school, and in my family so that others see Your love through me.