What does it actually look like to follow Jesus in everyday life?

In this message from our If/Then series through Ephesians, we turn to the second half of Paul’s letter—where belief turns into practice. Using the image of a “masterclass,” we explore how Paul invites followers of Jesus to learn Christ: to put off old patterns shaped by power, status, and exploitation, and to put on a new way of being marked by humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

This teaching wrestles honestly with cultural pressure, sexual ethics, speech, and formation—while holding out a hopeful vision of transformation. Paul’s call is not about moralism, but about waking up to the light of Christ and learning to live as people who reflect that light in the world.

📖 Scripture: Ephesians 4–5
✨ Themes: formation, humility, community, sexuality, waking up, spiritual growth

What if a single word could change everything?

In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul pivots from humanity’s brokenness to God’s radical grace with one of the most important conjunctions in Scripture: “But God.” In this teaching, we explore how Paul uses language, metaphor, and imagination to describe what God has done in Jesus—and what that means for how we live together now.

We reflect on:

• Why Paul begins with an honest picture of human failure
• How “but because of God’s great love” reshapes faith from transaction to grace
• What it means to be God’s handiwork—a kind of divine poem
• The walls of hostility we build, defend, and carry
• How Jesus creates one new humanity marked by peace
• Why Paul’s primary metaphor for the church is not an army or fortress, but a home

This message invites us to consider how Christian community can become a living sign of God’s creativity, welcome, and reconciliation—for the good of the world.

📖 Scripture: Ephesians 2
📍 Commons Church
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Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is built around one powerful structure: if / then.
If God is already at work healing the world in Christ—if grace, not violence, is the true power shaping history—then how should we live?
In this message, we begin a four-week journey through Ephesians by sitting in the if:a bold vision of Jesus, a high Christology, and a radical redefinition of chosen, predestined, grace, and peace. Set against the backdrop of the Roman Empire’s gospel of “victory, then peace,” Paul announces an alternative good news—one where peace is already possible because of God’s self-giving love in Christ.
This sermon explores:
* The if/then structure of Ephesians
* What “chosen” and “predestined” actually mean (and what they don’t)
* Why Paul’s greeting “grace and peace” is deeply political
* How the church becomes a small working model of new creation
* What it means to live ahead of the curve of God’s healing work in the world
📖 Text: Ephesians 1🎙️ Series: If / Then📍 Commons Church, Calgary