Stand United

Stand United | Ephesians 6:10-24

The fourteenth and final installment in our study through the book of Ephesians providentially took place on Memorial Day, where Americans across the world can pause and consider the dedication and courage of so many men and women who have sacrificed their lives to fight for what they believed was worth the cost. This is the very fight Paul opens our eyes to in his concluding words for the Ephesian church. Not a fight against an invading political power, or a dangerous ideology as has been the case in US history; rather, Paul turns our attention to the real war being waged: a spiritual war in our own back yards, our own church buildings, in our own hearts. Everything Paul says in this letter all builds to this one call to action: Never let down your guard.

United Families

United Families | Ephesians 6:1-9

Our thirteenth week in Paul’s book to the Ephesian church took us to the delightful—and often times troubling—topic of parenting. In this section, Paul definitively instructs God’s people how they are to live as members of the family He’s creating through us. But this family doesn’t work how you’d expect it: slaves and masters serve each other as equals under God’s ultimate Kingship, in the workplace and out, and most importantly—what Paul has been teaching from the first Chapter—we are all family in this Church. These instructions are not merely instructions for biological relationships anymore but for everyone we can claim as brothers in sisters in Christ.

United Marriage

United Marriage | Ephesians 5:22-33

Our twelfth installment of Sojourn’s journey through the book of Ephesians closes the section of Paul’s writing that details with vivid description the life of someone brought to renewed life in Christ. While offensive to many in modern Western culture, this set of verses deals specifically with the nature of the marital relationship, where the wife submits to her husband, and the husband hands over his whole self to serve and benefit his wife. Ironically, this passage has been used in more recent history to support the domination and suppression of the very women it was originally written to protect and restore to proper placement beside their counterpart of Creation.

Spirit Filled

Spirit Filled | Ephesians 5:18-21

In our eleventh week exploring Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Matt looks specifically at a section of verses describing the manner in which our newfound identity in Christ is lived. It’s common for these verses to center on the topic of alcohol and ignore the rest, but what Paul is doing here is describing what it looks like to be completely under the influence of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. You lose your own sense of inhibitions in reckless abandon for loving others and being thankful to God for the good in your lives.

Imitate Jesus

Imitate Jesus | Ephesians 5:1-17

In our tenth week exploring Ephesians, we find ourselves waist deep in what Paul the Apostle had been working towards teaching to his audience: the way of a Jesus follower. These verses have been all too easily abused in the Church history, so they should be treated with discernment in some regard; this is not another list of religious laws for us to blindly mimic. Rather, these are explicit examples of what it means to take to heart everything that Paul has been teaching us from the very beginning. As followers of Jesus, we have been pulled out of the death and slavery of our pasts into a new identity defined by Jesus himself; it only makes sense, then, that we act as he did, and Paul is determined to show them—and us—exactly what all that entails.

This is Love

Easter 2019 | This is Love

In celebration of the annual day of remembering the incredible victory Jesus achieved through the Cross by raising from the dead, we took a brief hiatus from our series exploring the book of Ephesians and looked instead at what it might mean in John’s account of the Gospel when he said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son…” It’s a powerful sentence, leading us to an equally powerful conviction about our own lives, should we truly take the time to consider the practical effects it has on us all.

”For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Living a New Life

Living a New Life | Ephesians 4:17-32

In our ninth week exploring the book of Ephesians, Matt concludes a three-part turning point in the flow of the letter. The first half of Ephesians spoke mainly of Who Jesus is and how his accomplishment on the cross changes who we are, but with the words in this passage, Paul begins speaking with directives, teaching the new believers of Ephesus what exactly it means in a practical sense to have your whole identity changed completely. This passage, along with the rest of the letter, can be misinterpreted as more rules to fill out a moral checklist. What Paul is really doing, however, is much more helpful and gets to the very hearts of his audience: he is filling out in great detail a picture of the New Life given to us in Christ.

Maintain Unity

Maintain Unity | Ephesians 4: 1-16

In the eighth part of our exploration through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Matt introduces the central argument towards which Paul has been building and from which Paul will be building for the rest of the letter: that we may live our daily lives in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. To Paul, it isn’t enough to simply acknowledge Jesus’ ministry and leave it at that. Jesus came and died for a grander purpose than lip-service alone; He did not come to simply build the Church. Rather, Jesus built the Church to bless the world. This passage is filled with practical wisdom for our daily lives as Paul dives even deeper into what that looks like, and how it is that the Church is supposed to accomplish such a task.