Mike Domeny, actor, author, and founder of Outloud Bible (outloudbible.com), reads the Bible out loud in a conversational and approachable way so you can read the Bible like it makes a difference! This isn't simply an audiobook version of the Bible! Every episode offers helpful context so you won't get lost, and a brief takeaway to help apply that reading to your life.
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We read Ephesians 3–4 and trace the shift from what God has done in Christ to how we live as his body in the world. We lean into Paul’s vision of the church as God’s dwelling place and ask what it looks like to submit when God’s work in us feels disruptive. • Gentiles welcomed as fellow citizens in God’s household • The church as God’s revealed mystery and cosmic display • Paul’s prayer for inner strength and rooted love • The “therefore” turning point toward living worthy • Unity of the Spirit grounded in one Lord and one faith • Spiritual gifts and leaders equipping the saints for ministry • Growing into maturity by speaking truth in love • Putting off the old self and putting on the new • Practical commands about anger, speech, work, and forgiveness • Salvation framed as a heart transplant and a rebuilt house
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Hey, this is Out Loud Bible Podcast, and I am Mike. We've been going through a good chunk of the New Testament, specifically focusing on Paul and the letters that he writes to encourage and correct and empower various churches that he helped plant and some others that he had not even helped plant, but uh in building up the church, which is the new body of Christ. Jesus came to earth, he died, he resurrected, and he ascended. But his ministry on earth is not done. It's just getting started, and his body is the church now. That's what this letter to the Ephesians is really about, hey, here's the whole story of what God has done, the whole plan that he enacted from the beginning. And now, in light of that, in light of the fact that we are his body, and in light of the of everything that he's done, what do we do? And that's the second half of the letter to the Ephesians. Uh so we've been taking it in thirds. I know I just said it's kind of broken up into halves, uh, but we're we're breaking up into thirds. And so the first third that we took a look at last episode is uh really a great overview of what God has done. That continues today, but today's episode, we're gonna see that turning point, and I'll I'll make a point to mention it when we get there, between what God has done and what we ought to do in light of that. Today's reading, starting in chapter three, is gonna start with the phrase, for this reason, and I think we should be reminded what this reason is. Paul does this a lot. It's like, hey, here's a thing. And now, in light of that, or therefore, or for this reason, so to make sure we're all on the same page here, Ephesians chapter three starts with for this reason. What reason is he talking about? Going back to look at the end of Ephesians chapter two, what we read last time, he's talking to Gentiles specifically, who have been brought in to be close to the Father. And so not to be considered foreigners, not to be considered non-citizens, but Gentiles now are fellow citizens with the Jews, and we can all be considered part of God's house because God is building a new house. You can consider it the church, the body of believers, that it's being built on a foundation, the foundation of the apostles and the prophets that have been mobilized by Christ, and Christ Himself is the cornerstone of this whole building. And verse 21 and 22 is really important of chapter two. In him the whole building being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, that by revelation the mystery was known to me, as I wrote before briefly. When reading this, you'll be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not disclosed to people in former generations as it now has been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, namely, that through the gospel, the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel, according to the gift of God's grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power, to me, less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten everyone about God's secret plan, the mystery that's been hidden for ages in God who created all things. The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church, the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access to God by the way of Christ's faithfulness. For this reason, hold on, before I get to for this reason, do you see what he's saying here, by the way? Just the fact that the church is God's plan to show off to all of the angels and demons and all of the rulers and authorities of heavenly places. Every heavenly spiritual created being can look at God starting the church and just go, like, what? I did not see that coming. And angels rejoice and demons shudder, right? And so that's that's the church. That's how God views the church. He's like, Oh yeah, I know. I'm God. I can keep a card up my sleeve, and you're never gonna know it unless I show it and I'm showing it. I'm playing my card, and it's called the church. Pretty awesome. So for this reason, verse 13, I ask you not to lose heart because of what I'm suffering for you, which is your glory. And for this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, and I pray that according to the wealth of his glory, he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner person, that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that because you've been rooted and grounded in love, you'll be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now, to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
And here's the turning point. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you've been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you two were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he captured captives, he gave gifts to men. Now, what's the meaning of he ascended, except that he also descended to the lower regions, namely the earth? He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens in order to fill all things. And he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry. That's a good note. Your pastors and teachers are not the ones who have the burden of doing the ministry. Their burden is to equip you and me to do the ministry. That is, what ministry? Here it is in verse 12, to build up the body of Christ. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature. So we're no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body builds itself up in love.
So I say this and insist in the Lord that you no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They're darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them due to the hardness of their hearts. Because they're callous, they've given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But but you did not learn about Christ like this. If indeed you you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus, you were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who's being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man who has been created in God's image, in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, because we're members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on the cause of your anger. Don't give the devil an opportunity. The one who steals must steal no longer. Instead he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he'll have something to share with the one who has need. You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear. And don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarrelling, and slanderous talk, indeed all malice. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. Well, some really great stuff here in the middle of the book of Ephesians. So yeah, here we today we saw that transition between what God has done, and now in light of that, what are we supposed
to do? How do we conduct ourselves? How do we act as the body of Christ now? We started this conversation, this episode, kind of launching off of the end of chapter two, where it talked about how God is building a new house. Uh, that ultimately we find in verse 21 that this whole building being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And he says, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So not only is the church on the whole being built, but you also have an individual part in yes, being part of this temple, but also individually, you are where the Holy Spirit wants to dwell, and the Spirit of God is indwelling in you specifically, individually, as well as the whole. And that really is the key theme in what we read today is that God is building house, but we also have to play a role in allowing that work to be done and submitting to the work that he's doing in building this. This is a very important concept in the Christian life. We gotta drill down on this here for a second, because I think a lot of us think that salvation is like a haircut, and it's not a haircut, it's a heart transplant. This is what salvation is that Jesus takes your old stone-dead heart and replaces it with his heart. That's the prophecy in the book of Ezekiel that comes true today. He replaces it with a new heart, not just a new heart, his heart. He's the heart surgeon, he's also the heart donor. And then he puts his spirit, the spirit of God, in you. C.S. Lewis says to uh imagine yourself like a living house, right? And so Jesus comes in at first and he starts fixing things. Like at first, it seems like reasonable stuff that he's fixing, like fix a leaky pipe here, replace the broken window there. It's like, yeah, it's not surprising because yeah, I knew those things needed fixing. I know those areas of my life were not good. Yeah, thanks for fixing those. That's great. But then he doesn't stop there. He starts doing things that weren't on your to-do list at all. Big things, disruptive things. Knock out a wall here, add a wing here, another floor up here, a some tower with a spiral staircase. And it's like, what is Jesus up to? What are you doing? And here's what C.S. Lewis says He says, You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but he's building a palace, and he intends to come and live in it himself. That is the Christian life in one really beautiful metaphor. That he's not just here to do some reno, he's not just here to, you know, give new siding and new coat of paint. No, no, he's demoing everything, even if it hurts, even if you don't know what he's doing, because he intends to live in it himself. Our ability to humble ourselves and submit to that work and celebrate that work and endure the painful process of living as a construction zone is what our Christian life is about.
In light of that, what is God doing right now that feels big, disruptive? Feels like he's stripping away something that you thought you was good and that you wanted, that you liked in your life? What's some big disruptive work that he's doing right now that doesn't make any sense? Why is this happening? Why am I going through this? And I challenge you to consider that maybe that's not part of the palace he wants to build. That's not part of the temple he wants to dwell in in your life. What would it look like to submit to him as the master builder, master demolitionist, master designer of the building that he wants to dwell in in your life? How would that change your attitude? How would that change your outlook as you look at the things that that are uncomfortable, frustrating, sad in your life? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day. Thanks for joining me here. We'll see you next time as we finish up this beautiful letter of the Ephesians.
