Over the Fence: Lessons From EphesusSample

Day 3 – Together We Are One
Ephesians 2

One of my wife’s and my favorite shows is Parks and Recreation. In Episode 2 of Season 3, a nasty flu spreads through the community, landing people in the hospital where Ann Perkins, played by Rashida Jones, works as a nurse. Her intimidatingly perfect boyfriend, Chris Traeger—played by Rob Lowe—gets sick and ends up in a hospital bed. Chris is physically fit, incredibly polite, and perfect in just about every way. Ann constantly feels overwhelmed by how “too good to be true” Chris is. But the flu knocks him flat. By the end of the episode, he’s in a hospital gown, lying on the floor, whispering, “This floor is my friend.” The segment ends with Ann saying, “Nothing like a complete physical breakdown to make a guy seem less intimidating. I love the flu!”

In some ways, as we head into chapter two of Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, the same thing is happening. Nothing gets two feuding factions to start working together like a good dose of humility. Paul points out that none of us has earned our salvation. We have nothing to boast about. We haven’t made ourselves—we are God’s masterpiece. He reminds the Ephesians that they were outsiders, steeped in sin, and bound for destruction. Paul gives the church a reality check. They need to drop the pride, the jockeying for position and power, and return to what God has done for them.

This is a powerful reminder for all of us. Most of my problems have come from my own ego and need for validation. Every time I start feeling self-important, I look for someone to confirm it—either by setting them up to compliment me or by establishing some kind of pecking order to validate my worth. Maybe I pass someone aggressively on the highway, or I make someone else feel small so I can feel big. These things happen when we lose sight of who we really are. We are all fallen, broken, and sinful. None of us deserves Jesus—and yet Jesus is offered freely to all of us. We didn’t earn it, so we can’t boast about it.

In this place of humility, I don’t need to prove my importance. I am simultaneously not important and of utmost importance to my Creator.

Paul brings the church to this place of humility and reminds them—and us—of something we all need to hear often: It’s not about us. It’s all about Jesus. The moment we start making ourselves the center of the story is the moment we start insisting that our way is right, that we matter more, and that others matter less. But when we come from a place of humility, knowing that we are all sinners, we don’t need to be more important than someone else. That’s when we can finally work past our differences and move toward the unity Paul describes at the end of chapter two. We are all very different, but because of Jesus, we are being brought together to become a holy temple for the Lord.

So what?
Take some time to pray and ask God to remind you just how badly you need Jesus. Ask Him to drive out everything in you that insists on self-importance at the expense of others.

Mystic Chef’s XP Boost – Ephesians 2

Take a second and think of any epic where the world’s falling apart and then a force for good steps in, saves the characters, and somehow pulls together an unlikely group who never should’ve belonged together in the first place, but now do. Totally different people, wild backstories, big personalities. But when they unite around something bigger than themselves? That’s when the real power shows up.

Jesus doesn’t just save us individually.He brings us together. People who used to be enemies, outsiders, loners? Now we’re family. Not because we always get along or think the same, but because we’ve all been rescued by the same grace.

But here’s where it gets even better, Jesus didn’t just save us from something, He saved us into something. A family. A community. People who never would’ve rolled together before are now building something bigger than themselves.

So ask God to remind you how much you need Him and how much you need others. Ask Him to root out the pride or self-importance that makes it hard to live united. Because real unity isn’t about having no differences; it’s about choosing to love anyway.