by Pastor Jeremy

When I was seven years old there was one thing and one thing only that I wanted for Christmas: Hungry Hungry Hippos.  The reason I know this to be true with such clarity is because I have watched the family camcorder footage where I am seen opening the present and exclaiming with overwhelming jubilience… “I wanted this all day and all night.”  I must have said that phrase no less than 10 times, a memory that my family finds quite comical.

So let me ask you… has there ever been something that you’ve wanted that badly in your life?  What is it that you’ve craved or longed for as deeply as a seven year old wanting Hungry Hungry Hippos?

Starting next Sunday (September 17th), we will begin to unpack Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  In this letter Paul lays out with the utmost clarity the beauty and profundity of the gospel.  In particular, there are two words (six letters) that stand out in chapter two – “but God.”  I would argue that these two words are the thing that we most long for and crave.  The truth that these words signify are the one thing that our hearts should want so badly that we would long for it to be true all day and all night.

And the good news is that it’s all true.  Paul declares in those two words that God, Himself, has initiated the restoration of humanity and creation back to Himself.  This is indeed the greatest news that we could hear.

This good news isn’t temporal, it's eternal - it isn’t simply informative but rather it is transformative.  The good news that the Bible calls the gospel is that God sent Jesus, His only Son, to pay the penalty for our sin debt.  We didn’t earn it – in fact Paul says in this letter that we weren’t even asking for it (Eph. 2:1-3) even though it’s the thing our soul needs and longs for most.

God, because of His great love, sent Jesus to bring us back into relationship with Himself and to restore all of broken creation.  And when we believe this and trust Christ that he has done this on our behalf – the Spirit of God begins to work the power of the gospel into every fibre of our being and every nuke and cranny of our life.  From using our power and position, to parenting, to having patience with other church members – the gospel transforms every aspect of our lives (Eph. 3:20).  

We believe that the gospel is not just the diving board where you leap into the pool of Christianity but the pool itself.  That means that we never get over the gospel but rather we grow deeper into it.  Thus in this series we will dive deep into Paul’s encouragement and exhortation to the Ephesians in order to unpack the gospel in detail.  Then we will see how this news impacts every part of our lives… in that order.  

So come prepared for God to work the gospel deeper into your life and bring someone who you know needs to hear the truth of the gospel.  And let us be in prayer together over these next ten weeks – praying together what Paul prays for the Ephesians:

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the work that is within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen” (3:20-21).