Pastor's Ponderings: Ephesians 2:1-10 Bible Study (week of November 2, 2026)

November 2, 2026: Ephesians 2:1-3

Good sunny morning my Bible Study friends.

The biggest piece of news is that we now have the Sunday worship schedule set for when Cross and Crown Lutheran Church takes up their residency in our facility at the end of this month.  I will try to keep you apprised about how things are going.  Though I know it will be tough for our seniors, our new worship time will begin on the first Sunday of Advent (that's Thanksgiving Weekend), and will be at 9AM.  Yes it is early, but our bell choir and Gospel Music singers are all committed to being here at the early time, and an hour earlier for their practice times.  Sunday, November 29th we will begin our new worship Schedule.  Our Christmas Eve worship will be either at 7PM or 7:30PM, very close to the time to which we have been accustomed for our celebration of Christ's birth. Melody and I will have a special Advent/Christmas ornament for American's members on that first Sunday of the change in our worship time.  There will certainly be more to talk about in the coming weeks, so I will continue to provide information for you as it becomes available. 

Today we are in chapter 2:1-3 in Paul's letter to the Christians in Ephesus for our bible study on Ephesians.  We will be taking two days to cover these three verses.   So let's get started this morning.  ( I may need to take a break to take our boys to help Theresa get moved into her new apartment a little later this morning.  She is Pam's caregiver. )  Paul makes his message very clear in these early verses, and we should not be surprised after the way he begins his letter with concerns about the willingness of new Christians to continue to live with disfavor, anger, and sometimes, downright hate in their lives.  This becomes a hard cycle of behavior which is so difficult from which to escape, and it is a part of everyone's lives.  Is it any wonder that God came in the form of His Son, so that all  people might not be condemned, but forgiven for this force in our lives.

In chapter two of Ephesians Paul begins by addressing the source of such sin and brokenness, and we discover that it has everything to do with us.  In creation everything was intended to be in harmony.  That was, and continues to this day to be what God is seeking in each one of us.  But sin is a powerful, progressively addicting presence in each of us.  It is no wonder that alcoholic and drug users become addicted to their sin of self abuse which results in pain and suffering for the people who care about them, and for others who are impacted so negatively by the addict's use.  Today lets take our time to understand a little better, the power of sin in everyone's life.  In all of this, remember it is God who is the sole judge, but in our hearts and minds, we know too, at least until the sin becomes habituated in its presence and power in our lives.

1. Sin kills innocence.  Psychiatrists tell us all that during our life times our brain remembers everything about our lives.  Granted, some of it gets tucked away, but the result of sin is the same.  When I think of my childhood, I have very fond memories filled with happiness and joy, and stuck there in the middle of that there are also some things that I would rather not remember, but they do not go away.  I am thankful that early in my childhood I had Christian Education which taught me about how to live as a child of Christ. (this will be tomorrow's lesson)  When I think about what children are exposed to today in TV, on the internet, and in social media on line, It is a wonder to me that any of them can end up being good people, especially when so many children today do not have any Christian background.  Their innocence cannot stand strong against what we as adults even call questionable content,, and honestly they don't.  Exposed to such things, our children do what we might expect, they will sneak more and more, until in adult hood they don't even understand that their innocence has been taken.  As children we all heard the story of a certain garden with a new kind of people in it, people ready to be in a loving relationship with their creator, who had gifted them with every thing that they needed, but they were tempted by sin ( a serpent ) to eat from a tree in the garden from which they had been restricted.  Everything they needed was theirs, but their choice for sin, killed their innocence.  At once they realized their nakedness, and were ashamed, and they lost their relationship with God too, and it would never be restored until God acted on behalf of His whole creation to restore the harmony with which it had been created.  We think that story is for children, but it is not.  It is for everyone of us, because sin is present in all of our lives, and our innocence is gone!

2, Sin also kills ideals.  Innocence gone, ideals come into question.  The fatal power of sin, is that it makes the next opportunity easier to do.  So sin enables repetitive behaviors, and makes them more likely.  If you and I have ever wondered about the nature of politics and service in government, and since the election is tomorrow, taking a little money to start for doing something that a person may not quite agree with, becomes easier every time, until big money is involved, and then that government person, who has lost their innocence and ideals, though they remember, will not even question the offer of that money, and they will tuck away their guilt and continue down that road no longer resisting that sin.

3. Finally, sin kills the will.  Once a thing destroys the will, it becomes a habit!  We see it in ourselves and in others all of the time.  Is it any wonder that we need to confess our sin every Sunday, and that we need to come to the foot of our Lord's throne, to once again have our confession offered, there the Holy meal's life, forgiveness, and salvation renews in the face of our sins that are old, and new.

Once again this all sounds like a real downer, but we also know the great joy that is ours when our Lord and Savior defeats sin and its power, which is death and separation from the God who loves us for all of eternity.  Tomorrow, we will look at this passage, 1-3, in light of the marks of Christian Life.  This was always were Paul was aiming once he laid sin out on the table of life.  (Hint, look at Matthew 5 from Sunday's gospel reading.)

Thanks for being with me today.   With love in Christ,  Pastor Kim

=============================================================

November 3, 2026: Ephesians 2:1-3 (continued)

Good morning.  A reminder to vote if you have not done so.  I took Jesse's ballot to the drop box at the east side recorder's office this morning, got out of the car, and there next to me at the drop box was Alice's daughter Belinda.  What a wonderful greeting and hug that was a complete surprise.  I asked Belinda if Patchy had his surgery yet on his ingrown toe nail.  She indicated that it had not happened yet.  I know it must be  uncomfortable for him, so please keep him and Alice in  your prayers as they await his treatment.

This morning we are back in chapter 2:1-3 of Ephesians.  Paul has taken us for a bit of a ride as he explained how things often go in the lives of people, and how sin can take over completely and ultimately feel like a habit that is necessary.  But Paul does no leave us hanging.  He wants the people of the early church to know what it means to be loyal to Christ in every way in life.  The way we know about that loyalty is by our own words and actions.  So today Paul moves on to writing about the marks of being a Christian who lives simultaneously as saint and sinner.  We already know what brings loyalty to Christ.  Matthew 5 shows us a list of what it means to be a person of Christian compassion.  So what things get in the way our Christian constancy?

1.  Everyone of us is faced with having to live in the time into which we have been born and lived out our lives, and every time is filled with so many things which can draw us away from our Christian Character.  We live in the world, but not of the world.  Think about the list of the things that our relationship with Christ demands of us as we live of the world, and how that compares to others who we know, hear about, or see in their seemingly successful lives.  Christianity demands that we offer forgiveness to all people.  That doesn't mean that their behaviors are acceptable to us, like a thief, a murderer, a person who lies for their own gain, and much more.  Christianity demands that we offer love even to our enemies!  Christianity demands that we live lives of service to others, and much more, which we learn as we read in the Gospels learning about our Savior, His ultimate love for us and all people, and how His Spirit works tirelessly in our lives as Christ's faithful children.  On the other hand, the world's standard is centered in the self.  In Christianity Christ and others must always come first.  It has been said that those people who live to the world's standard know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.

Paul moves on to talk about the prince of the air.  In his time it was believed that the air was so full of demons that you could not even insert a tooth pick in between them.  What chance did  people have?  Anyone who is under their domination is against God.  It is good for us to remember that Paul is a person of his time, and he must deal with the beliefs of his time no matter how we might view such a way of understanding evil today.  Things haven't really changed very much.  We know that there is an evil one who stands against the Savior, Father, and Spirit, and to become involved in following that evil one's path really does mean that we are opposed to the way of Christ in the world.  It is good for us to remember that we all fall victim to the evil one from time to time in our lives.  We could list a bunch of the things to which we sometimes succumb.  (Jealousy, anger, frustration, interacting in ways which clearly show that Christ's love is not present in us, greed, pride, and so many more.) 

When people live with disobedience to God's law and Word, Christians are reminded by the faith of their Christian friends, and the church community of the dangers of such behavior, calling for it to stop, but doing so lovingly.  It is a rare thing when the Holy Spirit, Christ's Spirit, is not working in all of our lives, causing our conscience to spring into action, as long as we do not close Her out.  She will always remind us of who God knows us to be.

Of course, it would not be Paul if he did not get down to the issue that is always so sensitive.  The world supports constantly that desire to live by the desires of the flesh.  I promise you, that the church, the ELCA, has spent years working to come to a much more Holy Place than Paul, who we believe was a life long unmarried man.  So let's speak about intimacy in relationships of what the world indicates is love.  Remembering what has already been said in Ephesians, we are reminded that our love for the other person must always be filled with what is gentleness, kindness, and compassion for one's intimate partner.  Too often the world has wanted to assess some relationship types as against the teaching of Christ's Word.  Our concern in the face of Paul's writing, is that we live in a world which has been dominated by self fulfillment by people's of all sexual identities.  All of this would stand in the way of our Christian calling, and its marks.  Love, compassion, tenderness, and a desire to share Christ's love with our intimate partner which creates for us a will and desire to not be of the world with it's skewered views of sexual identity, but to live with Christ at the center of life always empowering us to place our partner first.  Having been married for 55 years, there have certainly been times when the world's way challenged our path in marriage, but it has most certainly been when our faith in Christ, and His guide to treat one another with His care, has given us the greatest joy and hope in our lives, enabling us to live in marriage for others beyond the lives of our 8 children, congregations, and complete strangers.  Yes, living in Christ can be a challenge sometimes, but when we fill our lives with Him, we know that it is good, right, and just in every way.  Now, living in the world's power of the flesh means other things too.  Such as idolatry, hatred, wrath, strife, envy, or heresies.  Or how about pride, unworthy ambitions, or temper?  For Paul the flesh is anything in our lives that gives sin a chance!  I am certain that here are many which I have not named in this study this morning. 

If we live of the world, then there can only be one result.  That result is God's wrath and His condemnation.  Even the best of us, because we do indeed live of the world, will deserve God's punishment, and as Christians that should help us know where Paul will take us in tomorrow's passage. God has an ANSWER!

With Love in Christ.  Pastor Kim

=============================================================

November 5, 2026: Ephesians 2:4-10

Good morning.  Today we move on into chapter 2 of Paul's letter to the Christians in Ephesus.  Let's get started.

As you remember, Paul started out by writing about the fact that all people are dead through their sin and trespasses, and it seemed like the central theme of Ephesians was doom and gloom. Now Paul writes about something so much more important as we face the reality of our sin.  He tells us that God, in His mercy, makes us alive through Jesus Christ.  Remember, Paul is writing to the new church, and though some of this feels like we may already know it, and that this is like Christianity 101, what we actually have from Paul is the awakening of the relationship of harmony between God and His creation, which includes you and me.  This is the most important knowledge that any Christian can come to know, and subsequently restores the created loyalty to God in Christ through lives that are lived wholly in love for others, all of the time!  (Christian service in the world)

We saw that sin kills innocence.  However, through the love of God for his children that innocence gets restored.  The parable that speak to us most clearly about the relationship between God, His children, sin, and forgiveness, is the Prodigal Son.  Think in this teaching of Christ, of the power of sin to destroy the innocence of the son as he discovers the consequences of taking his father's wealth and squandering, throwing away, the resources for which his father had toiled many years.  We know the innocence that he had known in his father's home and business, the luxury of having an abundant life, was gone as he slopped the pigs, and knew the humiliation of his loss. He deserved to continue in that state for a lifetime, yet out of his father's love, his innocence was restored, and his sin was forgiven.  As parents we might like to think that we would be like the father in this parable of Christ's, but we are sinful too.  Only the perfection of God's love for us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can restore our innocence, though undeserved, offered freely by our Father in Heaven.

Paul also told us that sin destroys the glory that is meant to be in each of us.  It is easy to see all around us.  I see it in the unhoused I help around town all of the time.  Some are completely overcome by their circumstances, and they fall into personal disrepair, unwashed, tattered clothing, often trying to soften their loss of glory by drinking or drugging.  These folk who live in our midst will only find the glory that they have lost to care for themselves, when the love of Christ, the Body of Christ, comes to live in their lives again.   That happens when people like you and me take even just a moment to offer our caring and compassion, sharing Christ's love in our words of help, but sometimes we encounter a homeless person who has not lost that glory, like Scott, who Jesse and I assisted earlier this week.  His sign simply said, I'm hungry!  He had taken care of himself, was not, as far as I could see, using any control substances, and we could see in his countenance that his glory rebounded at our gift for him to have a meal and to know that he would be prayed for.  This is the living proof of the glory which the compassion of Christ can restore.  We can speak about this as the loss of a person's will to move forward in their lives, because their circumstances have become so difficult through their choices, or the impacts of consequences beyond their power to influence, which have caused them to set aside the will and glory with which they were created.  We most often name this loss of will as depression from which people often suffer.  Today we offer medication to assist with that condition, but it is really not until a person can acknowledge their worth, importance to others, and rediscover their love for themselves, that real healing can take place.  The love of Jesus does all of this in our lives, restoring the harmonies that God created in us, and in our relationship with the Holy One, Jesus Christ. (The medications are important to modify the neurological issues) When those harmonies are restored, then we will rediscover the glory of God which is in each one of us.  This glory helps us to live with thanksgiving more and more each day.

Thank you for being with me today.  Paul is our theological guide, helping us comprehend the amazing love that is here for us all through our Savior.

With love in Christ,    Pastor Kim