Outside the Envelope: Grace and Peace to You

In one paragraph

Ray opened Ephesians 1:1-14 this week, walking through what he called "the outside of the envelope" before letting Paul's opening doxology speak for itself. The sermon traced the trinitarian shape of the passage, God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and kept returning to a single pressing question: would you rather have God work His will through your obedience or in spite of your...

Read together

1. Ephesians 1:1-2 the opening of the envelope, Paul's greeting to the saints in Ephesus
2. Ephesians 1:3-14 the longest sentence in the New Testament, the opening doxology covering Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
3. Acts 9 Saul's history of persecuting Christians before his conversion
4. Acts 18 Paul arriving at Ephesus on the second missionary journey and reasoning in the synagogue
5. John 14:6 no one comes to the Father except through Jesus
6. John 20:21 post-resurrection Jesus sending the disciples as the Father sent him
7. Romans 8:28 God working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose
8. Galatians 4:4-5 when the fullness of time had come God sent his Son to redeem those under the law so we might receive adoption as sons
9. Colossians 1:19-20 in Christ the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile all things
10. Psalm 92 it is good to praise the Lord and proclaim his love and faithfulness

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray described Paul as someone who went from hunting down Christians to being sent out by Christ, and said the explanation is simply 'by the will of God.' What does it mean to you that Paul's transformation is credited entirely to God's will rather than Paul's own change of heart or effort?
2. Pastor Ray said the church is meant to be like the temple in Jerusalem, the place where heaven and earth meet, and that we are supposed to be declaring the mystery of God's will to the whole world. What does that look like practically for First B Jackson in this community?
3. Pastor Ray asked whether you would rather have God work his will through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience. Where in your own life right now does that question feel most personal?
4. Pastor Ray pointed out that Americans tend to individualize the blessings of God, but that phrases like 'in him you also' are really addressed to the whole church together. How does reading those promises as belonging to the body rather than just to yourself change how you understand them?
5. Pastor Ray described the Holy Spirit as the earnest money, the guarantee that the full inheritance is coming. How does it change the way you face day-to-day difficulties to think of the Spirit's presence as a down payment on something God has absolutely committed to finish?