Lift Your Eyes – Forget the Channel

A quick request to all my subscribers, to ask if you'd be willing to help others find out about the podcast by rating it, reviewing it, or sharing it. Read the full post: Lift Your Eyes: Please rate, review, share From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

This is the complete translation of the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians for the series Lift Your Eyes: Reflections on Ephesians. Read the full post: Translation of Ephesians From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Paul’s closing greeting in Ephesians is a good opportunity to summarise what the letter is all about and to remember why it’s worth reading and reflecting on it. Read the full post: Reading Ephesians (Ephesians 6:21–24) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

One of the best things we can pray for is that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will go out to the world, both through us and through others. Read the full post: Prayer: the heart of evangelism (Ephesians 6:17–20) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Do you ever feel like the Christian life is a struggle? Struggling is normal for Christians. In fact, it’s not just normal. Christians should be struggling! Read the full post: The importance of being a struggling Christian (Ephesians 6:14–16) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

It’s easy to ignore the spiritual realities of life. But Paul reminds us we should live our ordinary, everyday lives in light of spiritual realities. Read the full post: Stand your ground (Ephesians 6:10–13) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Authority implies responsibility. Christians, who have a heavenly Lord and Saviour, have a special reason to be responsible in the way we use our authority. Read the full post: The gospel for the boss (Ephesians 6:9) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

What do you do if you find yourself in a situation of limited economic freedom? Paul shows how that situation can be transformed by the gospel. Read the full post: The gospel: beyond freedom (Ephesians 6:5–8) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Fathers: Do you sometimes wish your children were born with an instruction manual? Being a dad is a big responsibility. Paul here provides valuable direction. Read the full post: The gospel and fatherhood (Ephesians 6:4) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Children’s ministry is important. Paul’s short instruction to children is deeply soaked in theology, biblical theology, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Read the full post: Paul the Apostle does children’s ministry (Ephesians 6:1–3) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches husbands to take initiative to love and give themselves to their wives. This radical teaching involves both actions and attitudes. Read the full post: The gospel and marriage part 2: Husbands (Ephesians 5:25–33) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

What Paul says in Ephesians about Christian wives and submission only makes sense in light of what he’s already said about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Read the full post: The gospel and marriage part 1: Wives (Ephesians 5:22–24) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul says to “submit to one another through respect for Christ”. What does he mean? What does he not mean? And how can we do it? Read the full post: Submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:21) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Why do Christians sing together? How should we do it? Christian singing should involve several dimensions: horizontal, personal, and vertical. Read the full post: Christian singing: Why and how? (Ephesians 5:19–20) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Believers in Christ have a profound reason to avoid drunkenness. That’s because believers in Christ have a reason to live, hope, and act wisely. Read the full post: What’s wrong with drunkenness? (Ephesians 5:18) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

It’s good to have ambitious goals for our Christian lives. But we mustn’t be naïve or unprepared. We need to be deliberate and careful about how we walk. Read the full post: Watch how you walk (Ephesians 5:15–17) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

How should Christians relate to the world around us? Should we withdraw, or should we engage? How do we know which action to do when? Read the full post: Living light (Ephesians 5:11–14) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

We live in a world full of tests and measurements. Believers in Christ should also test our lives. But when we do, we need to use the right standard. Read the full post: The test that matters (Ephesians 5:10) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Believers in Christ have had their very identity changed: once darkness like the world, but now light. The challenge is to believe it, and to live it. Read the full post: Children of light (Ephesians 5:8–9) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Our dreams drive our daily actions. In 5, 10, 20 years, what will you have become? Living in grace as an imitator of God, or a partner with the world? Read the full post: What do you want to become? (Ephesians 5:5–7) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Often we try to fit in with others by the way we speak. But God calls believers to be holy, not filthy, in our speech, even if it sounds strange to others. Read the full post: Holy talk (Ephesians 5:3–4) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Christians are God’s dearly loved children, raised from death to life and secure with him, now and forever. This is what gives us the power to sacrifice. Read the full post: Imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1–2) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Believers are to forgive, as God has forgiven us. Forgiveness is not only possible for believers, it’s also powerful for our lives and relationships. Read the full post: The power of forgiveness (Ephesians 4:31–32) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Christians have a whole new reason to speak. Instead of rotten words or selfish words, we are to speak good words: word that build and give grace. Read the full post: Words with purpose (Ephesians 4:29–30) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Paul preaches the gospel to thieves. God’s grace gives us a new identity. That means we have work to do: not so we can take, but so we can give. Read the full post: The gospel for criminals (Ephesians 4:28) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Whether our anger is right or wrong, we can’t deny it’s there. But because we belong to Christ, we must make it a priority to deal with anger. How? Read the full post: Grace and anger (Ephesians 4:26–27) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Truth is a rare commodity in our world. But Christians are people of the truth. The gospel of Christ demands that we value and speak the truth in every situation. Read the full post: Telling the truth (Ephesians 4:25) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

The gospel teaches us to change—to put off the old and put on the new. This change doesn’t save us, but it matters. It’s all about becoming who we are. Read the full post: Become who you are (Ephesians 4:22–24) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Christian communities are places of learning and teaching. This isn’t just about transmitting information: Christians are people who “learn Christ”. Read the full post: Learning Christ (Ephesians 4:20–21) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Darkness, futility, and desire: this is the way the world walks. Paul doesn’t write these things so that we can gloat or judge. He writes so we can repent, and live. Read the full post: Turn around and walk the other way (Ephesians 4:17–19) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Paul’s vision for Christ’s body is unity in diversity. It’s not just flat uniformity, nor is it just diversity for the sake of diversity. It’s diversity for a common purpose. Read the full post: Playing your part (Ephesians 4:16) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Paul’s principle for the growth of Christ’s body isn’t about presentation or organisation. It’s more fundamental: “speaking the truth in love”. Read the full post: The truth in love: A key principle for church growth (Ephesians 4:14–15) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Paul didn’t write Ephesians 4:11–13 to give us a detailed blueprint for how to organise our ministries. He wrote these verses to point us to God’s grace in Christ. Read the full post: Christ’s body: A brief history (Ephesians 4:11–13) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

In these verses, Paul makes a big deal of Christ going up (to heaven) and down (to be with us by his Spirit). Why? to encourage believers as we face all the ups and downs of living for Christ. Read the full post: Christ: Up there and down here (Ephesians 4:8–10) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

How should Christians think about our own individual ‘giftedness’? We need to see our own gifts in the light of God’s wonderful, superabundant grace. Read the full post: Gifted beyond measure (Ephesians 4:7) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

In this part of Ephesians, the apostle Paul makes an unavoidably scandalous claim: The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only God. Read the full post: The one and only God (Ephesians 4:4–6) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

In the classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the King of Swamp Castle issues an appeal for unity: “This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who!” It’s become a classic line used to poke fun at people who are trying to bring peace and unity without showing any understanding of the reality of the situation or the depth of hurt that’s been caused. While we might never end up being quite as absurd as Monty Python, Christians can sometimes talk about unity a little like this. That is, we can treat unity as some ideal state where everybody just gets on, no matter how deep our differences are and no matter what hurt has been caused. And yet—unity really matters. Christians are called to unity. Christian unity is anchored in the truth of the gospel. Read the full post: This unity (Ephesians 4:2–3) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Our step by step living, in all the details of life, really matters for Christians. It’s not an optional extra; It’s intimately connected to our calling. Read the full post: The truth on the ground (Ephesians 4:1) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

God is nothing like the Elf on the Shelf. God’s power is far beyond us. Yet God’s power is at work in us. So God’s glory is our joyful goal. Read the full post: God: Beyond us—and with us (Ephesians 3:20–21) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

God’s plans for his world, and his love for us in Christ, are vast and awe-inspiring. They change everything. That’s why need prayer to grasp them. Read the full post: This is huge (Ephesians 3:18–19) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Can God’s presence be with us? If so, how? In bread and wine? In a tangible experience of worship? In Ephesians, Paul speaks about how Christ dwells among us. Read the full post: Where does God live? (Ephesians 3:16–17) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Most people pray. But not everyone prays in the same way. Your view of God will have a profound effect on your prayer life. Who are you praying to? Read the full post: Who are you praying to? (Ephesians 3:14–15) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

We can react to suffering by avoiding or escaping or denying or rationalising it. For Paul, the gospel of Christ leads to a profoundly different reaction. Read the full post: My afflictions, your glory (Ephesians 3:12–13) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Do you think being a Christian is boring? If so, maybe your view of God is one-dimensional. But Paul sees God and his purposes in vivid multidimensional glory. Read the full post: God’s multidimensional wisdom (Ephesians 3:9–11) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Christian ministry is hard. So why be involved at all? Pragmatics and techniques alone can’t answer that question. We need to know the meaning of ministry. Read the full post: The meaning of ministry (Ephesians 3:7–8) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

How can we know God’s will? Some try to see God’s will in the progress of history. But this is disastrous. God’s will is something we can’t work out by ourselves. Read the full post: The open secret (Ephesians 3:4–6) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

It’s so easy for Christians to play the victim, and to define ourselves as victims. But Paul, even in prison under Roman rule, lifts his eyes to God’s grace in Christ. Read the full post: The prisoner lifts his eyes (Ephesians 3:1–3) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Is every church on its own? How are Christian believers connected with other believers with whom we don’t meet regularly: in our region, nation, and world? Read the full post: Built together (Ephesians 2:20–22) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Even if we don’t say it out loud, we can often act as if there are different classes of Christians. But the gospel teaches us there are no second-class Christians. Read the full post: No second-class Christians (Ephesians 2:19) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

Christ is a missionary. Christ does stranger evangelism. Christ preaches to the choir. Christ crosses cultures. Christ brings peace. So says the Apostle Paul. What does he mean? Read the full post: Christ the missionary (Ephesians 2:17–18) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor

In this broken and rebellious world, our healthy boundaries often become hostile walls. But the cross of Christ breaks down walls and brings reconciliation. Read the full post: Christ the wall breaker (Ephesians 2:14–16) From Forget the Channel by Lionel Windsor