By the Will of God

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened the first Sunday of the new series in Ephesians by slowing down on just the greeting and the opening doxology of chapter one, verses one through fourteen. He treated those lines not as throat-clearing before the real content but as a concentrated statement of everything the letter will argue. The service closed with communion. The return address matters. Paul writing to Ephesus...

Read together

1. Ephesians 1:1-2 the opening address and salutation, called 'the outside of the envelope'
2. Ephesians 1:3-14 described as the longest sentence in the New Testament, a Trinitarian doxology covering father, son, and holy spirit
3. Colossians 4:16 referenced as a parallel circular letter, like the letter to Laodicea, meant to be passed around
4. John 14:6 quoted as Jesus saying no one comes to the father except through him, in context of redemption through Christ
5. John 20:21 post-resurrection Jesus saying peace be with you, as the father sent me so I am sending you
6. Romans 8:28 referenced as god working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose
7. Galatians 4:4-5 quoted about the fullness of time when god sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law
8. Colossians 1:19-20 referenced as a parallel to the Ephesians doxology, the fullness of god dwelling in Christ and reconciling all things
9. Genesis 1:2 cited to counter the claim that the Trinity was invented at a later council, noting the spirit of god hovering over the waters in the beginning

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray described Paul as someone who went from being sent out by the Sanhedrin to kill Christians to being sent out by Christ, and said the turning point was 'by the will of God.' Where have you seen God's will override what seemed like an impossible situation in your own life or in someone you know?
2. Pastor Ray said the saints in Ephesus were called holy even though they were not holy on their own, and that God calling you holy is truer than what you are feeling. How do you personally reckon with the gap between how God names you and how you experience yourself day to day?
3. Pastor Ray asked whether you would rather have God work his will through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience. What makes it hard to choose obedience even when you already know what God is asking?
4. Pastor Ray described the church as being like the temple, the place where heaven and earth meet, and said the church is to declare the mystery of God's will to the whole cosmos. What does that look like practically for First Baptist Jackson on a regular week?
5. Pastor Ray pointed out that Americans tend to individualize the blessings of God, but that this passage is addressed to a collective 'y'all.' In what ways do you think we miss something by reading these promises only as personal rather than belonging to the whole body?