Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Paul, led by the Spirit and inspired by God, wrote to the saints at Ephesus to give them the motivation to lead lives worthy of their calling as the new covenant people of God.
In the church today, we often either forget why we should live differently from other people in the world, or we mistakenly turn the general doctrines of Paul’s ethical teachings into new dogmatic commandments. If this is indeed the case, then we need to hear Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as he intended his original audience to hear it. That means we need to be reminded that we live to do God’s will because God has delivered us from a hopeless situation by raising us from death in our sins to a new life with Christ. And it also means that we must learn how to rely more on the power of God’s promised Spirit. One way to do this is to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11). This Sunday’s sermon will focus on Ephesians 6:11-18 and the armor of God. Look forward to seeing everyone this Sunday.
In Christ,
Gary T. and family