Friends, my apologies for missing some dates last week in my Ephesians blogging—I was just unable to get everything done that needed to be done, and had to cut somewhere.

Here’s the good news: I’m ready to run, now. Ready to run with me?

I knew that one month was not going to be enough time for me to preach through Ephesians, and I knew that Ephesians was going to be a difficult book for us—Paul’s long, convoluted sentences take a lot of concentrated study before his meaning becomes clear. And it’s only after his meaning is clear that we can ask what his words mean for us.

So, we are going to re-read Ephesians over the next 4 weeks.

A reading each weekday for the next 4 weeks—twenty readings total. We can do this.

Trust me. It will be worth it.

I’m ready to run.

You ready to run with me?

[Shoot me a comment or reply and let me know.]

Today’s Reading [day 01 of 20] - Ephesians 1:1-10

Paul’s Introduction, vv. 1-2

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First: “Holy”—I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

Paul is writing to “God’s holy people.”

Holy is a biblical word that means “set apart” for God. For example, there were “holy” fire tongs that were used in Temple worship in Jerusalem, and “profane” fire tongs that were used in normal houses. It was the fact that they were set apart for God that made them “holy.”

The church is holy because it’s set apart for God’s work.

How can you be different at work today?

Song of Praise

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 for adoption to sonship 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. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Second: The Reasons Paul And We Have to Praise God

In verses 3-10, Paul gives a list of all that God has done that is worthy of praise:

• v. 3, We are already blessed in spiritual reality with amazing blessings [which one day we will see for sure];

• vv. 4-5, God planned from the beginning to make Abraham’s family—Israel, the Jews—as his people;

• v. 6, God has given gift upon gift upon gift in Jesus;

• v. 7-8, One of the things Christ’s sacrificial death achieved was to free us from our sins—another gift!

• v. 9, And more than that, now God has revealed his secret plan. What is that plan? Namely that shows that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus…

• v. 10, Is God’s plan to unify the entire world in and under Jesus.

Just think how cool this is:

God has made his secret plan openly-known. And that plan is to unify everything in Christ.