It is interesting how the book of Ephesians is divided. The last three chapters paint a picture of Christians should live. It covers all of our relationships. It talks about how we should treat each other in the church, how we should keep our unity, how husbands should treat wives and visa versa, how we should relate to the government, how children should behave, and how we should walk with God staying away from all impurity. There are are all kinds of commands in Ephesians chapters four through six.

Most sermons preached from Ephesians come from its last three chapters. How many times have you heard messages about what Paul says concerning husbands and wives in Ephesians? How many times have you heard exhortations about staying away from the sins of the world, or about the importance of loving one another? Sometimes our sermons are a weekly pep talk to redouble our efforts in doing these things.

Yet, Ephesians does not begin with chapter four does it? The first three chapters are all about seeing. Chapter one begins with the great prayer that God’s people would see who they are because of what Jesus has done. Chapter three ends with another prayer that we would see just how much God loves us. There is not one command in the first three chapters of Ephesians. They are all about who Jesus is and who we are because of Him.

Paul understood that all doing must begin with seeing. All overcoming must begin with seeing that Christ has overcome all things, and because we participate in Him, we are overcomers. We don’t create our own victory, we live in His. Likewise, all loving God as we should, and all loving our neighbor as we should begins with seeing how much God loves us. It is only in seeing who Jesus is and what He has done for us that we can be what we are supposed to be.