Category: Lift Your Eyes
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Grace and anger (Ephesians 4:26–27)
Whether our anger is right or wrong, we can’t deny it’s there. But because we belong to Christ, we must make it a priority to deal with anger. How?
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Telling the truth (Ephesians 4:25)
Truth is a rare commodity in our world. But Christians are people of the truth. The gospel of Christ demands that we value and speak the truth in every situation.
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Become who you are (Ephesians 4:22–24)
The gospel teaches us to change—to put off the old and put on the new. This change doesn’t save us, but it matters. It’s all about becoming who we are.
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Learning Christ (Ephesians 4:20–21)
Christian communities are places of learning and teaching. This isn’t just about transmitting information: Christians are people who “learn Christ”.
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Turn around and walk the other way (Ephesians 4:17–19)
Darkness, futility, and desire: this is the way the world walks. Paul doesn’t write these things so that we can gloat or judge. He writes so we can repent, and live.
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Playing your part (Ephesians 4:16)
Paul’s vision for Christ’s body is unity in diversity. It’s not just flat uniformity, nor is it just diversity for the sake of diversity. It’s diversity for a common purpose.
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The truth in love: A key principle for church growth (Ephesians 4:14–15)
Paul’s principle for the growth of Christ’s body isn’t about presentation or organisation. It’s more fundamental: “speaking the truth in love”.
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Christ’s body: A brief history (Ephesians 4:11–13)
Paul didn’t write Ephesians 4:11–13 to give us a detailed blueprint for how to organise our ministries. He wrote these verses to point us to God’s grace in Christ.
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Christ: Up there and down here (Ephesians 4:8–10)
In these verses, Paul makes a big deal of Christ going up (to heaven) and down (to be with us by his Spirit). Why? to encourage believers as we face all the ups and downs of living for Christ.
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Gifted beyond measure (Ephesians 4:7)
How should Christians think about our own individual ‘giftedness’? We need to see our own gifts in the light of God’s wonderful, superabundant grace.
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The one and only God (Ephesians 4:4–6)
In this part of Ephesians, the apostle Paul makes an unavoidably scandalous claim: The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only God.
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This unity (Ephesians 4:2–3)
In the classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the King of Swamp Castle issues an appeal for unity: “This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who!” It’s become a classic line used to poke fun at people who are trying to bring peace and…
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The truth on the ground (Ephesians 4:1)
Our step by step living, in all the details of life, really matters for Christians. It’s not an optional extra; It’s intimately connected to our calling.
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God: Beyond us—and with us (Ephesians 3:20–21)
God is nothing like the Elf on the Shelf. God’s power is far beyond us. Yet God’s power is at work in us. So God’s glory is our joyful goal.
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This is huge (Ephesians 3:18–19)
God’s plans for his world, and his love for us in Christ, are vast and awe-inspiring. They change everything. That’s why need prayer to grasp them.
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Where does God live? (Ephesians 3:16–17)
Can God’s presence be with us? If so, how? In bread and wine? In a tangible experience of worship? In Ephesians, Paul speaks about how Christ dwells among us.
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Who are you praying to? (Ephesians 3:14–15)
Most people pray. But not everyone prays in the same way. Your view of God will have a profound effect on your prayer life. Who are you praying to?
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My afflictions, your glory (Ephesians 3:12–13)
We can react to suffering by avoiding or escaping or denying or rationalising it. For Paul, the gospel of Christ leads to a profoundly different reaction.
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God’s multidimensional wisdom (Ephesians 3:9–11)
Do you think being a Christian is boring? If so, maybe your view of God is one-dimensional. But Paul sees God and his purposes in vivid multidimensional glory.
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The meaning of ministry (Ephesians 3:7–8)
Christian ministry is hard. So why be involved at all? Pragmatics and techniques alone can’t answer that question. We need to know the meaning of ministry.
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The open secret (Ephesians 3:4–6)
How can we know God’s will? Some try to see God’s will in the progress of history. But this is disastrous. God’s will is something we can’t work out by ourselves.
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The prisoner lifts his eyes (Ephesians 3:1–3)
It’s so easy for Christians to play the victim, and to define ourselves as victims. But Paul, even in prison under Roman rule, lifts his eyes to God’s grace in Christ.
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Built together (Ephesians 2:20–22)
Is every church on its own? How are Christian believers connected with other believers with whom we don’t meet regularly: in our region, nation, and world?
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No second-class Christians (Ephesians 2:19)
Even if we don’t say it out loud, we can often act as if there are different classes of Christians. But the gospel teaches us there are no second-class Christians.
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Christ the missionary (Ephesians 2:17–18)
Christ is a missionary. Christ does stranger evangelism. Christ preaches to the choir. Christ crosses cultures. Christ brings peace. So says the Apostle Paul. What does he mean?