Ephesians: Life in God's Diverse FamilySample

How beautiful is it to understand that we are in Christ, we’re chosen in him. That all that’s true of Jesus is true of you. The same affections that the Father has for Jesus, he has for you. I don’t know about you, but that moves my heart to just be so grateful. It is an amazing idea that Jesus is our Redeemer, that we are blood-bought, that his blood breaks the chains of sin and this incredible tyrant called death. The Holy spirit seals us into God’s family and now we have a family of brothers and sisters of all ethnicities, of all cultures. This new multiethnic race of grace is alive in Christ.

Verse 7: “So that in the coming ages, he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us.” Here it is again: “in Christ Jesus.” Why does God feel this way about us? Because we are in his Son. What Paul is saying—the way Jews and Gentiles, the way enemies become family, is to look at each other and to feel about each other the way Jesus looks and feels about them. When we get a glimpse of how Jesus sees us, the idea of ethnocentrism, the idea of prejudice, the idea of looking down on another human being in Christ or any other human being becomes spiritual insanity. If you’re in Christ and I’m in Christ, whether you are male, whether you are female, whether you’re black, Asian, Latino, rich, poor, middle class, if we are in Christ, that’s how we see each other. As believers in Christ we should treat everyone like Jesus actually died for that person.

If you go to my house, I’ve got this special room called the Dewey Room. In the Dewey Room, I have all of my memorabilia. I’ve got tons of it from high school to college to my professional career and I just show it off. The older you get, you’re like, man, I was pretty good back in the day. But you show all that stuff off. What Paul is saying here is that in the new heaven and new earth, God the Father is going to line you up, he’s going to line me up, and all of his transcultural beautiful family, he’s going to line us up and he’s going to say to the angels, “Look at my trophies of grace. Look what my kindness did.” All of our backgrounds—the brokenness, the sin, the selfishness, the hurt, the pain, the unspeakable things that we did—God’s grace erases those things and writes a new story that says “Trophy of Grace.” You see, you and I are the family that God promised Abraham. We are the trophies that he shows off. Why? Because we are in Christ. Never separate yourself from being in Christ.

What was God’s grace? It was Jesus living a sinless life for 33 years. It was Jesus dying an atoning death on the cross to forgive our sins, to break the power of sin, death, and evil. It was Jesus raising from the dead and the sending of the Holy Spirit. It’s a new race of grace, and our boast is in Christ and Christ alone.

Respond

List names of people in your life who have shown the grace of God in action in their daily lives.

Now list names of people you need to tell about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, may my days be spent in boasting of you and you alone!