Ephesians 2:3&4---But God, So Rich in Mercy

Ephesians Study

Chapter 2

Ephesians 2:3 & 4:  But God—So Rich in Mercy!

Ephesians 2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Verse 3:  Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of [God's] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind.

Notice that it says that we as well as you once lived…this description covers Jew and Gentile.  The point to be seen is these words: passions of our flesh.  Behavior is motivated by what we believe from our hearts.  We often think in terms of behaviors or specific ways of being, but what is more to the point is that the flesh, cravings, passions, sensual living is all about the ego life…self-centered.  It is so easy to point a finger at specific sins (living in death or separation from God) and think that others are worse than we are…using people, instead of Christ’s righteousness, as the covering that is ours to wear.    So much of what we focus on involves the way of the world which calls us away from who we really are as children of God.  On all levels we flee the discomforts of the flesh.  These discomforts have messages of freedom for us if we will hear them.  We are promised that in this world we will have trouble.  We keep trying to create a life that is trouble-free.  Our happiness comes from being in Christ.  Remember, Paul wrote Ephesians from prison.

What motivates us?  Neediness.  The need to be appreciated, wanted, significant, secure, safe, comfortable, and on and on.  The underlying neediness is another way of saying “passions of flesh.”  When we see it this way it opens up our understanding and helps us go a little deeper.  More than that, this honesty about self (which is usually incremental) makes us aware of how unloved and unlovely we really feel that we are.  We would not be trying to “buy” our way if we did not feel this emptiness.  What is our price?

This is our predicament.  We are never left there!  I heard someone say:  The hardest world to leave is the one within the heart  And, we have help.  The first two words of the next text makes me so happy.  It doesn’t leave me looking at me or others.    

Verse 4: But God–so rich is His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

But God in His mercy, because of and in order to satisfy love.  What a beautiful statement is this.  Not just satisfy…satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us.  The heart of God is being poured out by Paul.  What a beautiful love letter!  In his encounter with Christ on the highway, he was face to face with his savior.  He understood his own neediness and motives when he saw the Lord.  That is what that vision does for us.  One of the kindest things that the Lord does for us is show us the truth about where we are.  Once our self-illusions are broken, we can see the Lord and understand how we are persecuting Him in how we overlook Him and how we misjudge and persecute others.  Whatever we have done, we have done to Him. In Christ, our identity moves from what it was to what it is in Him.  God delivers us because He delights in us!  (Psalm 18:19.)

We do so much to try to find satisfaction.  God loves and is satisfied.  It is why we were created.  I will not say that I want this satisfaction.  I will say that I want to be satisfied because I love as He does.  That takes a oneness experience.  Is our communion with God moving us into this intense love that leaves us with God’s satisfaction in our hearts?  This is not something that we work up.  It is His work within us through relationship with Him.  It is love’s response.