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    Don’t Let Fear Take the Steering Wheel

    The Case for Shared Leadership (Part 5)

    The Case for Shared Leadership (Part 4)

    The Case for Shared Leadership (Part 3)

    The Case for Shared Leadership (Part 2)

    The Case for Shared Leadership (Part 1)

    More of Him, Less of Me

    You’ve Got a Friend

    3 Important Things You Should Know About Discipleship

    Discipleship Lessons from Star Wars

    Home

    Episode 26: Election, Free Will, and Flowers

    God Is Calling YOU to Rest (Part 2)

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Should we still listen to Hillsong?

    Easter Origin: Bunnies & Eggs?

    Before Christ Rose

    Our Misconception of the Body

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Can Christians go to multiple churches?

    The Relationship Between Frugalism and Stewardship

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Rejoice (Part 3)

  • LIVING
    • All
    • Identity
    • Mental Health
    • Purpose
    • Work

    Home Is Where Your Heart Is

    Interview: Transformation from Pole Dancing

    The Power of Names

    In a Difficult Season in My Life, I Joined the Production Team

    Wisdom from a Baby

    LET THERE BE LOVE — on Christian Veganism (Part 5)

    There’s Nothing Wrong With You

    LET THERE BE LOVE — on Christian Veganism (Part 4)

    LET THERE BE LOVE — on Christian Veganism (Part 3)

    LET THERE BE LOVE — on Christian Veganism (Part 2)

    The Addiction You Didn’t Know You Had (Part 2)

    The Addiction You Didn’t Know You Had (Part 1)

    LET THERE BE LOVE — on Christian Veganism (Part 1)

    Home

    Episode 25: What’s up with the education system?

    Our Misconception of the Body

    The Relationship Between Frugalism and Stewardship

    Home

    Episode 23: Why I changed my career

    What Consumes Us (Part 2)

    What Consumes Us (Part 1)

    Jesus and Minimalism

  • RELATIONSHIPS
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    • Dating
    • Family
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    Home Is Where Your Heart Is

    In a Difficult Season in My Life, I Joined the Production Team

    Wisdom from a Baby

    Dating for Jesus**

    A Short Letter to the Tired Single

    3 Important Things You Should Know About Discipleship

    Home

    Episode 27: How do you find the right person? Questions on singleness, boundaries and friend zones

    The Addiction You Didn’t Know You Had (Part 2)

    The Addiction You Didn’t Know You Had (Part 1)

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Can a Christian date a non-Christian, then convert him/her?

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Should we still listen to Hillsong?

    Home

    Episode 25: What’s up with the education system?

    Get Used to Different (Part 2)

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Is cohabitation a sin?

    Before Saying “I Will”

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Need for Companionship

    Local Man Discovers Gift of Singleness, Calls Off Marriage*

    Get Used to Different (Part 1)

    Talking with Family Members About Mental Health (Part 3)

  • CULTURE
    • All
    • Evangelism
    • Justice
    • Social issues
    Our Christmas Collection

    Our Christmas Collection

    You’ve Got a Friend

    Discipleship Lessons from Star Wars

    Ethical Consumerism

    Easter Origin: Bunnies & Eggs?

    Get Used to Different (Part 2)

    Home

    Episode 24: All about Crypto, NFTs, and the Church

    What Consumes Us (Part 2)

    Is metaverse or VR church a real church?

    Should Christians go to war?

    Home

    Episode 22: Enneagram Part Two

    What Consumes Us (Part 1)

    Jesus and Minimalism

    Home

    Episode 21: Enneagram Part One

    Get Used to Different (Part 1)

    Christian Cancel Culture: A Gospel for the Oppressors

    Christian Cancel Culture: A Gospel for the Oppressors

    Your Calling to Bring Shalom into a Deprived World

    Your Calling to Bring Shalom into a Deprived World

    Welcome to Shift Gear

    READY? SET… GO!

    READY? SET… GO!

    Home

    Episode 16: Cage homes and subdivided apartments, is this the reality of HK? // Ask Martin: Why does God elect some not to believe?

    Home

    Episode 14: How should we engage on social media? // Ask Martin: Would God’ve been more loving if He didn’t create anyone?

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    Interview: Transformation from Pole Dancing

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    Dating for Jesus**

    Local Man Discovers Gift of Singleness, Calls Off Marriage*

    Why

    In The Whisper, pt2

    How Do I Get Inspired?

    Rejoice (Part 3)

    Rejoice (Part 2)

    Rejoice (Part 1)

    Loss

    Celebrating Creativity

    Baptism Numbers Skyrocket After Installation of Waterslide in Local Church*

    What God Says About Me

    In The Whisper

    Reppin’ Jesus on Social Media – How to Stay True in a World of Haters

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Tears in Ephesus – the Extraordinariness of the Ordinary

What Paul and Ephesus teach about love and community

Kevin Wongso by Kevin Wongso
2021/05/27
in Bible
0

When Paul first visited Ephesus, it was but a stop on his journey back to Jerusalem that he wasn’t even sure he would ever return to, telling two friends he left there, “‘I will return to you if God wills,’” (Acts 18.21). But as we know, Paul did return to Ephesus (Acts 19) and established a church that became one of the seven great churches of Asia.

And oh, the stories we are told of Ephesus! There were the miracles – handkerchiefs that bumped into Paul could heal diseases and cast away evil spirits. There were the pretenders and blasphemers – opportunistic Jewish exorcists tried to invoke Jesus’ name, to which the evil spirit said “‘Jesus I know, and Paul I recognise, but who are you?’” (Acts 19.15) and then proceeded to beat up said exorcists. 

There was also that very confused riot which led to two hours of shouting in the local theatre – shrine craftsmen began complaining that Artemis worshippers converting to Christianity had hurt their bottom line. When the assembly had fully escalated into a riot, “some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together” (Acts 19.32).

After spending three eventful years in Ephesus, Paul moved on through Greece and Macedonia, swung around Corinth, and began a return to Jerusalem during which he made a stop in Miletus, a city about a day’s walk from Ephesus. He calls for the Ephesian church elders to meet him there, and says this to them:

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. (Acts 20.22-25)

Their response? Weeping, embracing, and sorrow, knowing they will never reunite (Acts 20.36-38). It seems like the usual type of farewell from when you send a friend off at the airport or after a meaningful dinner, but what stuck with me was the line, “Being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again” (Acts 20.38).

For all the powerful doctrine, for all the awesome miracles, for all the good work that was done, what moved their hearts most was their love for each other. Jesus also famously instructed his disciples, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” (John 13.35). Indeed, Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,”  (1 Cor. 11.1) while he was still in Ephesus.1

A good friend once reminded me to not miss the story that is happening around me. It is easy to get lost in chasing the next big thing or milestone and thus lose sight of the people around me that are a major part of life itself. When serving others as a follower of Christ, it is similarly easy to get lost in doctrine, theology, and intellectualism, forgetting the supernatural love that joins us to the Lord and our community as it did for Paul and the Ephesians. The church of Ephesus shows me how an otherwise ordinary community is made extraordinary by how they love each other through their love of God, and it always reminds me to do the same.

Kevin Wongso

Kevin Wongso

Software engineer by day and hobby writer by night, born and raised in Indonesia. // Favorite author: C S Lewis

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