Sojourn PDX

Ephesians 5:22-33. Our twelfth installment of Sojourn’s journey through the book of Ephesians closes the section of Paul’s writing that details with vivid description the life of someone brought to renewed life in Christ. While offensive to many in modern Western culture, this set of verses deals specifically with the nature of the marital relationship, where the wife submits to her husband, and t...

Ephesians 4: 1-16. In the eighth part of our exploration through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Matt introduces the central argument towards which Paul has been building and from which Paul will be building for the rest of the letter: that we may live our daily lives in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. To Paul, it isn’t enough to simply acknowledge Jesus’ ministry and leave it at that. Jes...

Ephesians 3:14-21. In the seventh installment of our journey through the letter to the Ephesian Church, Matt takes a longer look at what it is that connects the first half of this letter to the second: Power. Paul is building a case for us to not only believe in the claim of Jesus’ reign on Earth but also understand that belief in this reign makes you a citizen of his kingdom a walking proponent o...

Ephesians 3:1-13. This is the sixth installment of our journey through the book of Ephesians, in which Matt speaks about a transitional pause in Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. While the first part of this letter was spent describing the new identity Christ's work on Earth gives his followers, the last part focuses on how that new identity should immediately impact a follower's daily life....

Ephesians 2:11-22. This is the fifth installment of our journey through the book of Ephesians, in which Matt speaks on Paul’s instructions to the church of Ephesus concerning race. Nothing was more brutal at that time, or even today, than the racism and hatred towards “outsiders”, and nothing is more opposite from the inclusive love of God either. Enjoy this powerful reminder of how Jesus’ death a...

Ephesians 2:1-10. In our fourth installment of exploring the letter to the Ephesians, we hear from Paul our terminal diagnosis: we are utterly dead. This grave news was only just final when Paul follows it with the brilliant hope of new life breathed back into our aimless corpses.

Ephesians 1:15-23. In our third week exploring the letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells the church in Ephesus what he prays for when he thinks of them. It’s such a powerful prayer that even Paul had trouble summarizing it, so he wrote one sentence that spans the whole passage! It’s best in that case to simply repeat it: “…that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the r...

Ephesians 1:3-14. Our second week exploring Paul’s letter to the Ephesians brought us to what Paul believed his readers needed to understand first before moving on to the rest of the letter. For Paul, our story actually starts with God choosing us, making us his own, and giving us a permanent place in his divine family.

Ephesians 1:1-2. By way of introduction to Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus, we take a look at the first two verses, and at the overall message of the letter. It’s not much writing, but knowing where and when this letter was written, and by whom it was written as well, is crucial in seeing how God spoke to his people then and who he’s making his people into today. God is uniting all things t...