Made New: An Ephesians Book StudyНамуна

What is something you’ve wanted, perhaps more than anything else, but knew you couldn’t get? Maybe it was a person in high school you desperately wanted to date but who didn’t know you existed. Or perhaps you want your team to win the championship, but they keep coming in last place. Or you wish you could own a brand-new car, but you must keep driving your old, outdated one.

More than anything, we should desire to be close to God, in relationship with God, and at peace with God. The problem is that we can never achieve this goal alone.

In Ephesians 2:11-13, Paul writes about the Gentiles. They were people who were not Jewish. Therefore, before Jesus came, they did not know God and were excluded from being God’s people. Their condition was exactly like ours.

But when Jesus came, He made the impossible possible. Everything changed. We had been far from God. But Jesus closed that gap, bringing us near to the Father through His death and resurrection.

How does it work? “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). It’s an amazing gift we didn’t earn or deserve. “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him” (2 Corinthians 5:18).

Did you notice the second sentence? God has given us peace with Him and a mission: to help others experience peace with Him!

Response
1. What are the implications of being brought close to God in your life? How are you actually experiencing this?

2. Who has God put in your life, and who is still far from Him? How could you live out your mission with this person (IE, serving them, sharing your testimony, or inviting them to attend church with you)?

3. Take some time to thank Jesus for being willing to die for you so that, through His blood, you could be forgiven of your sin and brought close to God.

Weekly Memory Verse
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:8-10

Written by Vince Antonucci