Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Ephesians 5:1-7.  Let’s go!

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV) 
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

On verses 1-2:  This is one of my favourite verses in the Bible.  It’s worth memorizing!  Not only is this verse beautifully written; it’s also a great summary of what it means to be a Christian.   It sums up some of the big truths that Paul writes about elsewhere:

– that we are dearly loved children in God’s eyes

– that Jesus showed us His love in the most practical way: He gave Himself up for us as a sacrifice to pay for our sins (This verse reminds me of Galatians 2:20 where Paul says that it was Jesus “who loved me and gave himself up for me”)

– that, in response to God’s love for us, we are called to be like God and to love the way He did. (Earlier in Ephesians 4:24 Paul tells us we are created to be like God in righteousness and holiness.  Here he tells us we are called to be like God in how we love too.)

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Ephesians 4:17-24.  Let’s go!

Ephesians 4:17-24 (NIV)
17  So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19  Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20  You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.

On verses 17-24:  Paul tells all the Christians in his church that they must no longer live as the non-believing world around them does (v17).  He describes the thinking of non-believing Gentiles as “futile” (v17), “darkened” (v18) and “separated from the life of God” (v18).  He attributes their darkened thinking to the hardening of their hearts (“having lost all sensitivity” – v19).  When the heart gets hardened, the mind gets darkened.  That’s what sin does: it starts in the heart, then affects the person’s thoughts, and eventually it takes over their body, until they “give themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity” (v19).

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Ephesians 4:1-6.  Let’s go!

Ephesians 4:1 (NIV) 
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

On verse 1:  God has a calling on your life.  A calling is an invitation from God to live your life for a purpose bigger than yourself, for God’s purposes.  In individualistic Western society, we must be careful not to forget that the “you” Paul speaks of here is not to one individual person, but to a community of believers.  So not only do you as an individual have a calling from God, but you and your brothers and sisters at church have a calling together as a spiritual family.  At Thrive, we speak of that calling in terms of 5 words: Alive, Expectant, Involved, Outloud and United.  Together as a church family we are called to worship Jesus (“Alive”), grow more like Jesus (“Expectant”), serve Jesus with our talents (“Involved”), lead others to Jesus (“Outloud”) and love Jesus’ family (“United”).  You have a calling from God!

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Ephesians 3:7-13.  Let’s go!

Ephesians 3:7-9 (NIV)
7  I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
8  Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

On verses 7-9:  When Paul says that he is “less than the least of all God’s people” (v8), he is referring to his infamous past when he tried to destroy Christianity and brutally persecuted Christians.  Yet God turned Paul’s life around and made him a messenger of this gospel to the Gentiles.

What can we learn from this?  First, no matter what your past, God can transform you into an instrument for God’s glory, if you are willing.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Ephesians 2:11-22.  Let’s go!

Ephesians 2:11-22 (NIV)
11  Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)–
12  remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

On verses 11-22:  By the time Paul had written Ephesians, there had already been centuries worth of hostility between Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews).  Generally speaking Jews and Gentiles would not interact with each other except under special circumstances.  The Jews contemptuously called the Gentiles “the uncircumcised” (v11).

Even between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, there was uncertainty as to how much they should interact with one another and how different or similar they were to each other.  Since Jesus was a Jew, did that mean Jewish Christians were on a different level than Gentile Christians?  Were Gentile Christians second class citizens in God’s kingdom?