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Ephesians 3:1-13

 

[Grace and Peace] EPHESIANS_

 

[Activity] Spend some time exploring the logical flow of Ephesians 3:1-13…

 

[Read Ephesians 3:1-13]

 

In the first section of this chapter, how does Paul describe God’s secret plan?

 

In verses 2-5 how did God reveal this plan?

 

What three privileges did the Gentiles attain (together with the Jews) within this plan?

 

 

 

Imagine hearing the news that a family in your street has come into a big inheritance… and then being told that you’re going to become members of that family and instant inheritors of the same wealth and privileges as them!
That’s the situation that Christian Gentiles now find themselves in…

 

In verse 7, how did God accomplish this plan?

 

 

What does this plan of God’s (the plan itself, the fact that God kept it hidden and then revealed it, the way God accomplished it) reveal about the character of God?

 

In verses 8-9, what task did God give to Paul?

 

 

Again, in verse 10, how does Paul describe God’s secret plan?

 

“The heart of the present passage is verse 10, which is one of the New Testament’s most powerful statements of the reason for the church’s existence: the rulers and authorities must be confronted with God’s wisdom, in all it’s rich variety, and this is to happen through the church! Not, we should quickly add, through what the church says, though that is vital as well. Rather, through what the church is, namely, the community in which men, women and children of every race, colour, social and cultural background come together in glad worship of the one true God.
It is precisely this many-sided, many-coloured, many-splendored identity of the church that makes the point.
God’s wisdom, Paul is saying, is like that too: like a many-faceted diamond which twinkles and sparkles with all the colours of the rainbow.
The ‘rulers and authorities,’ however – both the earthly authorities and their shadowy heavenly counterparts – always tend to create societies and social structures in their own flat, boring image, monochrome, uniform and one-dimensional. Worse: they tend to marginalise or kill people or groups who don’t fit their narrow band of acceptability. The church is to be, by the very fact of it’s existence, a warning to them that their time is up, and an announcement to the world that there is a different way to be human.” [N T Wright]

 

 

In verses 11-12, what does it mean to approach God with both confidence and assurance?

 

 

How can these two characteristics change your prayer-life (as both an individual and as a church)?

 

 

In verse 13, why does Paul describe his sufferings as his readers’ “glory”?

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