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| Daily Devotionals for September 6-10
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|  | As a church family, we are about to begin an extended series
of studies in the New Testament book of Ephesians. To prepare for that series,
you will be invited-in the days preceding each message-to read and meditate on the
texts for the coming Sunday's sermon. There is no better preparation for
hearing the teaching of God's Word than to prayerfully read the Scripture
portions to be studied and ask God that "the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18).
You may choose to read and re-read the verses in a single
translation throughout the week, or you may wish to explore the richness of these
texts by turning to this passage in other translations. (You may have your
favorites, or BibleGateway.com offers a number of options. For variety you
might choose on some days to read the NLT or ESV translations, or The Message,
an amplified paraphrase.)
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 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6
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| | Read Ephesians 1:1-6 each day this week. This is the text that Pastor Bugh will teach
from on Sunday, September 12. We will follow that pattern throughout this
series of messages in Ephesians.
1 Paul,
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in
Christ Jesus:
2 Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
Christ.
4 For he chose us in
him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In
love 5 he predestined us to
be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure
and will-
6 to the praise of
his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Verse 1 identifies the author of this letter as,
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God." As he wrote this epistle,
Paul was imprisoned for his faith. That is something to remember as we move
through his letter to the Ephesians, especially the first three chapters that offer
an extended joy-, praise-, and thanksgiving-filled affirmation of God's
sovereignty and love. It will be good to keep in mind that the author was
writing from a dark and harsh Roman prison, not from the comfort of a
theologian's study. More amazing, Paul's circumstances didn't inhibit his
outpouring of praise and thanksgiving to the One who had chosen him, blessed
him with every spiritual blessing in Christ, and adopted him as a son through
Jesus Christ.
Father,
I come to you today as a person with cares and concerns
that can fill my mind and keep me distracted and feeling distant from You. Help
me to fix my thoughts on You, and not on my circumstances. Use these verses
from Ephesians to remind me of all You've done for me, and how You love me. I praise you for choosing me, for making
me holy and blameless in your sight, for blessing me, and for adopting me into
your family through Jesus Christ.
Amen
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| TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
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As we anticipate next Sunday's sermon, please read Ephesians 1:1-6 each day this week. This is the text that
Pastor Bugh will teach from on Sunday, September 12. We will follow that
pattern throughout this series of messages in Ephesians.
Verse 1 identifies both the author who wrote this letter, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God," and the people to whom it was written, "To the saints at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ
Jesus."
The recipients of this letter are identified, right from the
start, as people who lived in two realities--in Ephesus and in Christ. Like us, they lived in the physical world. They were physically in
Ephesus, but equally, they existed "in
Christ," one with Him and with His people.
If we have accepted God's gift of salvation through Jesus
Christ, then we too must find the appropriate balance between these two worlds.
We are in Wheaton, West Chicago,
Glendale Heights, or wherever we are right now, but we are also in Christ.
Because this world is so present with us--clamoring for our
time and energy--it's the rare person who struggles with giving too much attention to the things of God. For most of us, the
cares of this world-the uncertainties about family or finances or the future-too
often fill our hearts and minds.
Father,
Thank you for who I am in Christ Jesus and for how that
identity changes every aspect of my life. Forgive me for my preoccupation with
the "stuff" of this world. Use these truths from your Word to help me reorder
my priorities today-to focus on things eternal and things that matter to You.
Amen
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| WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
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As we anticipate next Sunday's sermon, please read Ephesians 1:1-6 each day this week. This is the text that
Pastor Bugh will teach from on Sunday, September 12. We will follow that
pattern throughout this series of messages in Ephesians.
Right near the beginning of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he
greets his readers with these words of blessing: "Grace and peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Look at many of Paul's other letters
and you'll find variations on this very same greeting at the start of most of
them.
From what we know of Paul's life, it's no surprise that
God's grace was front-of-mind for him. Acknowledging
himself to be "the worst among sinners" (I Timothy 1:15-16), there was no question
in Paul's mind that he could somehow earn God's favor or work hard enough to deserve God's gracious offer of salvation in Christ. He was
captivated by the reality that a holy God had reached out to him as an
undeserving sinner and invited him to be reconciled to God Himself through
Jesus Christ His Son.
As we move through our study in Ephesians, we'll return
again and again to the theme of God's grace. And what a wonderful pairing Paul
presents of "grace and peace."
Peace--as a gift of
God and not the result of Paul's setting or circumstances--was also right up
front in his thoughts. Peace from God was the only kind of peace Paul knew most of the time.
Father,
I praise you for the grace and peace that you freely offer
us. Teach me to live more fully in the light of these gifts from your hand.
Help me to be a person whose life tells the story of your grace and your peace
to the people whose lives I touch every day-my friends, my family, my
co-workers, and my neighbors-that they will see You shine through me.
Amen
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| THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
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As we anticipate next Sunday's sermon, please read Ephesians 1:1-6 each day this week. This is the text that
Pastor Bugh will teach from on Sunday, September 12. We will follow that
pattern throughout this series of messages in Ephesians.
In verse three, Paul begins a great
hymn of praise that continues through to the end of chapter one, thanking God
for the blessings He so graciously gives us.
Typically, when we think of thanking
God for "blessing" us, our thoughts are likely to turn to how He has provided
for our needs, given us food and shelter, and kept us safe--the material blessings that enrich our lives. But in this context,
Paul is specifically turning the thoughts of his readers to the "spiritual
blessings" that are ours in Christ.
Go back and reread verses 3-6, thanking
God in your own prayer of thanksgiving for the spiritual blessings that are yours
in Christ.
Father,
I praise you today for choosing
me-before the creation of the world. For providing a way for me to be made holy
and blameless in Your sight. For adopting me as your child. Thank you, Father,
for sending Your Son, and through His death providing for my deepest need-the
need to have my sins forgiven and to be in relationship with You.
Amen
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| FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
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As we've reminded you this week, during
worship services this Sunday morning we as a church will begin our study in Paul's
letter to the Ephesians. It is our prayer that you will approach this study
with a sense of eagerness and anticipation of what God can and will do in the
lives of His people and in our church.
Down through church history, God
has used this book as a catalyst for significant spiritual transformation. It
was his study in Paul's letters, particularly Ephesians, that brought Martin
Luther to an overwhelming conviction of Christ's role as the only mediator between God and man, and triggered
his passion to preach and teach that he was "saved by grace through faith
alone."
John Mackay, former
President of Princeton Theological Seminary, said of Ephesians, "To this book I
owe my life." First encountering
Ephesians at 14 years of age, the impact on Mackay was profound. "I saw a new
world . . . . Everything was new . . . I had a new outlook, new experiences,
new attitudes to other people. I loved God. Jesus Christ became the center of
everything."
Throughout his life,
Mackay continued to experience the impact of Ephesians, and decades later
wrote, "From the first, my imagination began to glow with the cosmic
significance of Jesus Christ. It was the cosmic Christ that fascinated me, the
living Lord Jesus Christ who was the center of a great drama of unity, in which
everything in Heaven and on earth was to become one in him. I did not
understand what it all meant, but the tendency to think of everything in terms
of Jesus Christ and a longing to contribute to a unity in Christ became the
passion of my life. It became natural then, and it has remained natural ever
since to say, "Lord Jesus." (John Alexander Mackay, God's Order: The Ephesian
Letter and This Present Time New York: Macmillan, 1956)
John R. W. Stott, known
worldwide as a preacher, evangelist and communicator of Scripture, writes
concerning Paul's letter to the Ephesians, "The letter to the Ephesians is a
marvelously concise, yet comprehensive, summary of the Christian good news and
its implications. Nobody can read it without being moved to wonder and worship,
and challenged to consistency of life."
1 Paul,
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in
Christ Jesus:
2 Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
Christ.
4 For he chose us in
him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In
love 5 he predestined us to
be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure
and will--
6 to the praise of
his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Father,
Thank
You for the truth of Your Word and its power to change me. Use this study in
Ephesians to "open the eyes of my heart" and to do something big in my life and
in our church. Change me as I commit myself to hearing and responding as you
speak into my life.
Amen
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Wheaton Bible Church
27W500 North Avenue
West Chicago, IL 60185
630.260.1600
www.wheatonbible.org |
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