Resurrected and Reconciled to Worship

What stood in stark contrast to the state of things with the church members at Ephesus, when Paul wrote, was their former worship-less state in which they counted the Sovereign Ruler of the Skies ungracious, unloving, and worthy only of their outright opposition or ignorant contempt. They had been strangers to God; pridefully they had disdained both the people of God and the worship of God. Instead of being grieved at this separation and diligently looking for some means of remedy, they had mocked the odd practices of the Jews and rebelled at the God who made them. However, a new day had dawned, unlooked for grace had appeared; the very One they rejected had pursued them at the dearest cost to Himself and sweetly subdued them to His will. In full, willing, obedient, aggressive agreement, they were now His most fervent followers. Paul took them the next crucial step based squarely on the gracious work of God. He taught them that God resurrected and reconciled them to Himself so that they, now united to His people, would be His worshipers, who worship God according to the Word of Christ.