Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Seeing the Bigger Picture of the Gospel | New Testament | Ephesians 1

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

When you think of the big picture of Christianity, what do you think of? What's the point of it all? In today's episode, guest host Jeff Parrett kicks off our time in Ephesians with encouragement of how to see the full picture of the gospel. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Ephesians 1

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. So at TMBT family, our co-host Jensen is out on maternity leave right now. Super exciting. So we asked our friend Jeff Parrott to fill in for a couple of episodes. Now Jeff is a pastor, and he has a way of talking about the Bible that resonates with all ages. He's also incredibly kind. I think you're going to enjoy meeting Jeff on today's episode.

Here he is. The right picture can transform your life. In 1968, an astronaut on the Apollo 8 mission took one of the most powerful images in the history of photography. The image wasn't just beautiful, it was impactful. Amidst the heightening environmental crisis of the 60s, this image ignited the environmental movement, stirring people to take action and caring for creation. This photograph from space was so important. influential that it was given a name. Earthrise. Earthrise was so meaningful because it was the first

color photo of Earth taken in the history of humanity. Never before had people been able to see such a clear and beautiful image of their home from outer space. It was an image that transformed the way people saw, thought, and lived. See, transformation happens when the big picture is made visible. If seeing the big picture was important for the environmental movement, how much more essential is it for followers of Jesus and his kingdom movement? The Apostle Paul starts his letter to Christians living in Ephesus with a kind of earth-rise image. He presents the big picture of the gospel to cultivate transformation in our lives.

We read in Ephesians 1 verses 3 through 4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Now notice how Paul doesn't start his letter to the Ephesians with our immediate needs or concerns in mind, as important as those are.

Paul starts with God, with the purposes of God in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. This should shake us up. Paul is saying that long before we entered the world, God was at work weaving us into his plan to restore all things in Jesus. Paul continues to develop this big picture of the gospel in verses 7 through 10. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he, she set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him,

things in heaven and things on earth. Now, these verses are astounding. They connect the work of Jesus on the cross to the purpose of God for the fullness of time, across the entire span of world and redemptive history. In what is that purpose? As verse 10 says, the purpose of God, the big picture of the gospel, is to unite all things in Christ. Why does that big picture matter?

Well, first, it shows us that while the gospel impacts our lives, it's also much bigger than our individual lives alone. This big picture of the gospel gets us outside of ourselves and directs our awe to God himself. Redemption is not just an individual affair confined to our personal experiences and perspectives. If we really believe this, we'll be profoundly humbled because we realize we aren't the main character of the biblical story. And at the same time, we'll be overwhelmed by the love that God has for us. He's blessed us and chose us to be part of his work in uniting all things in Christ.

Ephesians 1 tells us that the work of the gospel plays out on a cosmic scale. This is one of the reasons why theologians have been so struck by the power of Paul's portrayal of the gospel in Ephesians. The famous preacher Martin Lloyd Jones said, it is very difficult to speak of Ephesians in a controlled manner because of its greatness and because of its sublimity. The Scottish theologian and missionary John McKay said, this letter is pure music. What we read here is truth that sings. Doctrine set to music. I love that. Lloyd Jones and McKay exemplified the only fitting response to this depiction of God's kingdom movement, worship. And yet Paul doesn't stop there. This magnificent exposition of the gospel leads from worship to hope. Paul's flow of thought

leads him to a prayer at the end of Ephesians chapter one. Now notice how this prayer of hope is connected to our need to see the big picture of Christianity. So picking up in verses 15 through 21, we read this. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power.

toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. So Paul is praying for these early followers of Jesus and for us to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened for the deepest, most essential parts of who we are to see the hope of what God is up to in the gospel. But notice here in this prayer how this hope isn't just something that we see or have. Verse 18 says that this hope is something that we are called to. We are meant to experience it,

embrace it, and embody it. In the context of this prayer, this embodied hope is tied to the power of Jesus in his resurrection and reign over all things as king. This is how the grand scope of the gospel lands in our lives through the finished work of Jesus who died, rose, and reigns. But Paul doesn't let us get away with an individualistic interpretation of this hope, as if it's only about me and Jesus. He closes his prayer in Ephesians 1 by orienting us to God's work through the body of Christ. We read this in verses 22 through 23. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So the embodied hope of the gospel is something we experience as the body of Christ. This is a high view of Christian community,

one that's emphasized throughout Paul's letter to the Ephesians. The body of Christ is the fullness of him who fills all and all. We are united. with Christ as individuals, and united in Christ as a community, as God works through Christ to unite all things to himself. Everything unraveled by the power of sin will be woven together again by the power and love of God in Jesus. That's the big picture of the gospel. Maybe for you, this bigger picture reframes what faith is about at a fundamental level. Maybe you need to be set free from a small view of gospel and see that while the gospel includes you, it's not about you. It's about God working through the fullness of time to unite all things in Jesus. It could be that you're wrestling through a season

of habitual sin, a season of suffering or doubt. What would it look like for you to live into the reality that Paul prays for here, for the eyes of your heart to be opened, to see and embrace and embody the hope of Jesus. Or perhaps this bigger picture reframes how you navigate relational frustrations or tensions. If Jesus the King has placed you in a community to be a part of his kingdom movement, are there people in your community that you need to pursue with empathy and love and forgiveness? Like that famous photograph Earthrise, the big picture of Christianity will transform our lives if we really see it. Seeing the big picture frees us from having to pretend that life is about us,

that we are somehow the cosmic glue holding the universe together. When we see what God is up to at the center of the Christian story, we are set free to be drawn into it by His Grace. How does seeing the big picture of Christianity change the way that you think about your life and your community today?