As we continue our journey through the Book of Ephesians, I heard this quote about Paul’s epistle from a former Bible teacher, James Montgomery Boice. He referred Ephesians as, “the Grand Canyon of Scripture,” because “it is breathtakingly beautiful and apparently inexhaustible to the one who wants to take it in” Paul’s letter is an exhortation to remind the faithful the wonder and practical implications of being the Church in Christ. Think, this letter reflects the lineage of a Christian.
A quick overview and recap up to this point: Paul, a former persecutor of the church named Saul who after his encounter with Jesus becomes who we know as Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God (Eph. 1:1). Sometime later, Paul would begin his missionary journeys to share the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes through faith in Christ. (Romans 1:16-17). Paul first encountered Ephesus during his second missionary journey and stayed there 3 years during his third journey. After he departed Ephesus, Paul sometime later was imprisoned in Rome where he wrote this letter along with, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. These letters were known as the “Prison Epistles”. Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus and surrounding area was to root them in their Calling as the church of Christ (Eph. 1-3), their Conduct as the church of Christ (Eph. 4-6), for their heart’s awareness against the evil of this earth (Acts 20:28-31) along with awareness of spiritual warfare against one’s own heart (Ephesians 6:10-20). The last few weeks we’ve journeyed and seen Paul’s narrative of God’s Choosing His elect (v.3-6), Christ’s redeeming the elect (v.7-12) and The Spirit’s sealing of the elect (v.13-14). Therefore, we see Paul explain to the saints then, and to us today, that the Sovereign God has revealed his Righteousness by His grace in His Election (Father) – Redemption (Son) – Sealing (Spirit). Testimony: I remember my lineage growing up. Part of my testimony is I grew up in a broken home. As child I was raised by a single mother who loved and cared for me well. My dad was not around as my mom and him conceived me out of an extramarital affair. Eventually my dad decided to stay in his marriage and that left my mom to decide to leave their relationship and to raise me on her own. Around the age of 4-5, my heart was exposed and my eyes were opened, as in the same sense of when Eve first bit that fruit in the Garden of Eden, I didn’t know this moment would have such an impact on my life as I grew older. What grabbed me in that moment was exposure to pornography. I also witnessed unhealthy relationships in my mom’s life along with being around men who had no biblical foundation and didn’t know how to model truth and grace. Because of the model I grew up around and understood, this led to my own development and patterns of Lust - looking at women in an objectified state, Pride -looking to myself to get through life and being guarded on who I could trust, and finally Fear of man - this struggle looking for the approval of others and caring too much about what others think of me or allowing others influence me in making decisions. This is what I thought it meant to be a man as a young adult. From High School through college I was into the party scene, being in unhealthy relationships with women, objectifying them while seeking their approval along with the approval of my peers around me. I was living a life on a bad song set on repeat. Sometime later in my mid 20’s, I was invited and started going to a church in the metroplex. This church drew me in because of the “hip pastor” and its relevant messages that I could relate with or its cool worship atmosphere where I always felt like it was a concert with their production theatrics on stage. I’d always leave on Sundays, as if I just left a pep rally, all pumped up. I’d find myself throughout the week on an emotional high repeating catchy slogan or lingo used by the teaching, such as God wants us to experience Him on an “HNL, (W)Hole Nutha Level”, while repping the swag t-shirts saying “Godfidence”. While I was there, I heard about the Gospel of who Jesus is and that He died on the Cross for my sins. There was always an opportunity after each sermon to repeat after the pastor and say the “sinners’ prayer” and ask the Lord into my life. On top of that we would witness weekly announcements for those who profess their faith to come up and make the decision to get baptized. There were weeks where I’d witness hundreds of people coming to profess their love for Christ and the decision to get baptized. After some time of being an attendee, my emotions were stirred, and I knew in my heart I wanted to ask Christ into my life. So, what did I do, I said the “Sinners Prayer” Soon after, I was getting plugged into the church, being a part of small groups and serving within. I also got baptized shortly after. I thought I was living this new life in Christ and all sudden things are supposed to get better in my life. Plus, I had been faithfully tithing and was told to believe in favor from the Lord according to Malachi 3:10, which starts off by saying, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s armies, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have room enough to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” We would continue to invest so that we would anticipate The Lord to bless us beyond measure for our faithfulness. We would continue to tithe because we believed tithing equated to blessing. But as time continued, I continued to have this void in my life. I was still looking for life from the world and others during the week and put on my best facade on Sundays acting like I had it all together. I continued to step in unhealthy relationships and justify my sin as long as I would go to church and read the Bible. I also was going to church and always leaving on an emotional high, looking at the pastor like a rock star and trying to do everything I was taught and yet, I wasn’t really experiencing my “best life” and it created in me a works-based faith on a man centered gospel where I was continuing to try to earn my way to God even though I professed to accept Christ. I was led to believe God would do amazing things in my life according to the plans He has for me from Jeremiah 29:11 Question, why wasn’t anything changing in my life? Let’s continue to meditate on Paul’s words to the Ephesians in the remainder of chapter, Ephesians 1:15-23: 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. What does it mean? In context, Paul concludes the chapter in prayer. Paul is praising and petitioning to God for the believers to not just hear and know about God in an intellectual sense (v.1-14) but from a heart transformation to KNOW and BELIEVE GOD in a deep relationship (v.15-23). Here is an acrostic to see what Paul was praising and petitioning in prayer for the believers then, He prayed for them to know they are: Prized Possessions – Paul starts by praising God’s Glory giving thanks because in God’s Plan and choosing, they responded by faith, believing in Christ and are now God’s people. (v.15-16) Regenerated – Paul petitions to God that by Spirit in them they would receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation; in others words an understanding of God’s character and will along with an opening of the heart to see one’s own depravity leading to a heart seeking God. A heart of reverence and a wisdom to fear in the Lord. (v.17) To quote Solomon, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov.1:7) Alive – Paul prays they know in their hearts they are alive in Christ, As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, they are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come. We see three requests specifically Paul prays for the Ephesians which are
All this encompasses every spiritual blessing from Heaven in Christ (Eph. 1:3). YAHWEH – Paul emphasized it is Yahweh, Hebrew for LORD, who is Jesus raised from the dead for victory over sin and death, It is Jesus who sits at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, it is Jesus who is above all things and been given rule over everything, it Jesus who will come back to rescue his church and His chosen nation Israel, it is Jesus who will judge the believers and unbelievers where all will bow down and see He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, it is Jesus who came, as God promised (Genesis 3:15, 12:1-3), to redeem the fall of Satan from the spiritual realm and the fall from Adam in the earthly realm, it Jesus who will finalize Satan’s sentence on death row into the lake of fire along with the those who responded in unbelief, it is Jesus who ushers in the New Heaven and Earth, and in the end we will rejoice in God’s reign forever and ever. (v.20-23) So then back to my question, why wasn’t anything changing in my life? Simply, my life had not changed on the outside because on the inside I had not come to truly know and believe in my heart Who God is, His sovereign grace of election offering Christ as Savior and redemption for my sins, and to rest in His sufficiency and a transformed life by the Power of the Holy Spirit. When you pridefully believe that it’s up to you to choose God’s grace of salvation, but not believe in a freed will to respond and receive, along with being shepherded by a false teaching church that can distort the Truth about God’s grace through Christ, it is no longer centered on the Good News of Jesus Christ but the Good News that is man-centered or somehow man is on the same level with God. It is up to God to answer man’s calling. To quote a definition I read, “A man-centered gospel defines our lives in terms of what we “need” or want most. The biblical gospel rightly recognizes that none of us fundamentally live to ourselves, but to God (Rom. 14:7-9). A man-centered gospel considers our needs and desires to be our most fundamental problems. The true gospel recognizes that to sin against God and face his wrath is the most fundamental problem imaginable. A man-centered gospel is based on our desires, our wants, our needs. The biblical gospel looks to the Bible to define our problems and God’s solution: the sin-bearing death and life-giving resurrection of Jesus Christ. The true gospel puts God at the center of the message—and the center of our lives, and the center of the entire universe—because that’s the truth. We live and die in a God-centered universe.” In addition, I had not heard of God’s grace as reflected in Ephesians 2:8-9 or Titus 3:5, so spiritually I continued to feel bankrupt of God’s kindness, leaving to still somehow work towards being in God’s grace. Around the age of 30 when I was out of a toxic relationship, still in false gospel teaching church, and in the pit of my life, I then knew in my heart I wanted to seek Christ with all my heart. I truly remember wanting Christ at the center of my life, I remember crying out to God in a heart of surrender saying, “to show me what it means to follow You.” God rescued me from my pit and took me out of that church and brought me into His church. This wasn’t through Watermark or the Porch, which the Lord has guided me now as my church home, it started with a community of people who would fulfill God’s calling to be the church, to come alongside me, pray for me, and show me the same thing that Paul shared and prayed for in the Ephesians. They simply lived it out by sharing the Gospel to me, help me understand that I am a saved by God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ, and not from myself or works, that its by God’s choosing to His glory and His plan and not anything I could do. It was ALL HIM and not me. It was not about seeking favor from Him by either doing more things for His acceptance or have Him do things for me to keep my acceptance. All I had to believe is to trust in God’s provision through Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His resurrection and receive His gift of salvation, my earnest need of God’s help to want to turn away from sin, and to truly believe that in my heart and not what I’ve heard and rely on the knowledge of my understanding. To those here today listening or reading, let us be encouraged and take an opportunity to P.R.A.Y to God giving praise and thanks to Him for seeing us as His Prized possessions, Regenerated in the heart by the blood of Christ, made Alive in the Spirit, because of Yahweh’s grace and mercy.
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“11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. 12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” Ephesians 1:11-14 (NLT)
As I have been meditating on this passage this week, there are so many things here that encourage me. However, the thing that really hit me this week is the idea of inheritance. In the ancient world (the time this was written), one purpose of adoption was to provide an heir: a person, who would get all money, get the honor of carrying on the family name, and get the power/reputation of the family as well. God uses the idea of adoption with us. Verse 5 tells us we are adopted into His family. That’s not a metaphor or illustration by the way. We really are adopted by God (that’s why we can sing loudly the we are “children of God”). Adoption is powerful today, but back in the ancient world it was a huge deal. One of the most famous adoptions, involved Julius Caesar. Today, he’s got a salad named after him and the month of July, but in Ancient Rome he was famous for taking over the Roman Republic and starting the Roman Empire. He’s pretty famous. Unfortunately for him, other people did not want him to be Dictator/Emperor/King, so he was assassinated. The problem was, Caesar did not have a legal son, so he solved this small problem by adopting someone. The person we know today as Augustus (today, most well known for giving the month of August it’s name). At the time, he was 17 years old, a distant relative of Caesar, had traveled with Caesar, and was in military education in Greece when Caesar died. It’s kind of crazy, but Augustus did not known he was adopted until he landed back in Italy and learned about Caesar’s will. When the will was read and he got adopted, he literally changed his name. For example, let’s say I was adopted by (insert example here). He also legally received Caesar’s fortune, which was a huge sum of money. More than that, many the people who supported Caesar went ahead supported Augustus because he was the person Caesar adopted. He got a portion of Caesar’s reputation. Imagine an entire of army of Roman soldiers or a city of people (or even entire states) or an important politician deciding to support someone because of who adopted them. These things where his inheritance. In case you’re wondering, Augustus eventually became the first Roman Emperor. God is infinitely more powerful than Caesar ever was (Isaiah 57:15). You and I are adopted into his family and we literally have an inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). That’s what this passage in Ephesians says. One day we will be in heaven living in a place that Jesus is literally making for us. We are going to have new bodies that don’t suffer sickness and decay. He will wipe the tears out of our eyes. One day we won’t have to fight a daily war with sin. Augustus got a name change, money, and reputation, but our inheritance is infinitely moreso. I don’t know about you, but my promised inheritance feels far away. Right now, my house is broken and all the plumbing is getting ripped out. There’s a weird smell and the water only works sometimes. As we sit here, my body feels achy and I’m not as fast or as strong as I once was. I’m getting old. I’m decaying. This week my friends and people I know are going to suffer tragedy and cry tears. Today, sin will show up again and tempt me to believe that God isn’t good. But Verse 14 has something to say about that. Let me read it again to you. “The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” The Holy Spirit is what God gives us to remind us that our inheritance is real and that it’s coming. This week I was trying to think of the best way to think about this. Let me try. When a girl gets engaged, she receives an engagement ring. The ring is also, itself, worth something: sometimes several thousand dollars. But it’s real value is its purpose as a symbol. It’s a sign. She’s not married yet, but she carries everywhere with her a sign of a promise. Right now, she has a Fiance, who has promised to marry her. One day soon she’ll have a wedding. In the future, she has a marriage to look forward to. In the same way, you and I, after believing in Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us and, as Paul points out, He is a sign of our inheritance. There is discussion about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and I don’t want to get into that because I don’t want to miss what Paul is saying. But, the Holy Spirit gives us a sense of the presence of God and does the work of transforming people. When you hear a story of God dramatically changing someone’s life, that’s the Holy Spirit. The transformation you see in your own life that’s the Holy Spirit. Those moments when God feels near and present and close that’s the Holy Spirit. The amazing way God can use people and churches to do dramatic things that’s the Holy Spirit. When we see these things and see the Holy Spirit at work, we are being reminded that this is just a down payment or a sign of the future awesomeness that God is bringing and has promisied. Right here and now, eternity with God can feel far away, but the Holy Spirit, in our lives, is a down payment and a sign that our future inheritance, the very promises of God, are real and will come to pass. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
That is a mouthful. Paul the Apostle, in the first book of Ephesians verses 3-14, excitedly proclaims in a beautiful run on sentence, a doxology of the goodness of God and His plan of salvation to the church in Ephesus. [my best run on sentence attempt] Last week, Larry explained the beginning of Paul’s exciting speil; God has given us “every spiritual blessing”. In a culture where his readers would have yearned for temporal and material blessings (in fact, in Ephesus they worshiped Artemis, a fertility god), Paul makes this bold claim that God gives blessings that even by our own way of measuring worth & value, are far better than anything else we could want- spiritual blessings that last forever, and even more that God does not hold back when giving them. In verses 4 through 6 Paul explains the “WHEN” God chose us- “Before the creation of the world” and goes on to explain the WHY God chose us- to be special, set apart, and “to be holy and blameless,” and how this was all part of [Drake voice] God’s Plan. Today we get to explore the “HOW” God chose us… [A quick detour] Throughout the book of Hebrews we get an in depth look at the uses and meanings of various Jewish ceremonies and the Jewish tabernacle. The writer explains how these things actually foreshadowed and represented Christ, but were not enough for taking away sin (only atoning for sin temporarily). In Hebrews chapter 10 we see this: 11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Instead we know only the power of the sacrifice of Christ could do this! The old testament and new testament both teach us there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood... 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God [...] 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. [...] “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. ...And the new testament specifically reveals HOW Christ’s shedding of blood took away the sins not just for the year, but forever. Again in Hebrews 10 the next couple verses confirm this: 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God [...] 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. [...] “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Jesus paid for us, in full! He redeemed us by buying us back, ransoming us with his blood. [exhales] Great. 1 verse down, 3 to go! With the whens, whys, & hows out of the way - there is a “what” that is left. In verses 8 through 10, Paul explains God has given (“lavished”) us wisdom and understanding to know his plan, and this is the plan: “At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” And this is cool - because today we can hope that the pain and strife we can experience in this life will cease when Christ returns. When- God chose us before the creation of the world, before our parents were, before we were. Not for what we can offer, but instead because he loved us and delights to work through us.Why- God chose us to be special, set apart, consecrated. How- God chose us, and through the sacrifice of his son bought us back from death. What(‘s next) - He’s coming again to restore all things! 'Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. '
Ephesians 1:3-6 Paul wrote this letter to the church and sent it with Tychicus. Not written to counteract heresy or to confront any specific problem, Ephesians is a letter of encouragement. In it Paul describes the nature and appearance of the church, and he challenges believers to function as the living body of Christ on earth. Let this be an encouragement to you as you read this as a believer and if ur not a believer let it show you what is in the life as a believer. I was just sharing this week with one of my patients who is also a believer that sometimes as a believer because of the blessing of my faith I am able to view things differently. God has provided his wisdom and insight into my life that as a non believer I did not have. He is has given me as it says in Ephesians 1:3 “spiritual blessings”, that go beyond what this world has to offer. You see Faith, is the spiritual blessing our God gives us. In our culture the word blessings gets thrown around alot and we usually attribute it to material things only. #BLESSED.We sometimes value things on how long it will last, how much it gives us pleasure, or expensive things. An example would be precious metals like gold or silver which last a long time, so they have a high value. God gave us something of eternal value though, longer lasting than any precious metals or fancy things. My Faith has everlasting effects on my and the life to come. It gives us/me an eternal view that God will overcome all that this world will throw at you or me. Faith affects areas of how I use my money, use my time, handle relationships, etc.. It gives me purpose, value, and peace. It's truly something so valuable. All of this hinges on the fact that I placed my Faith in Christ for the forgiveness and payment of my sins. Paul tells us in this passage that he did this and not I. It says “For he chose us”. A Lot of people look at this scripture and its widely debated about the understanding of predestination. We may never figure out how exactly to wrap our heads around this concept. It's what I would say is a miracle that only God could orchestrate. How did God “choose” us? Don’t we make our own choices? God alone originates and accomplishes our salvation because of his grace; we do nothing to earn it. Being “chosen” in no way removes the necessity for people to choose to follow. The fact that God knows all events and decisions beforehand, even ordains them beforehand, does not mean that he forces the actions of his creatures or leaves them with no choice. Instead, God’s foreknowledge means that he took the initiative and chose people before they had done anything to deserve it. God had intimate knowledge of these future believers; he knew who would believe, and he knew them personally. Those chosen ones were known by God the Father as a father knows his children, except that God knew about them from eternity past. God is not trapped in time— what he knows is from eternity past into eternity future. Believers are chosen, but not against their will. When the time comes, they accept the gospel message. He chose us to as it says to make us “holy and blameless”. You see before Christ I was nowhere near holy and blameless. I was blind to my own actions. If anyone knows anything about being blind to actions, its Paul. On the road to Damascus in the book of Acts. Jesus made him physically blind so that he could actually see how spiritually blind he was to his own sin and humbled him. He Adopted us! Why because he loves us. He knew we had potential. He looked at us and chose us as it said for “his pleasure and will”, to glorify himself. He wanted to save us so he did. I bet there are things that you or I do because you just wanted to right? He did this to glorify himself, people may have looked at any one of us and thought this person will never be saved. Boom he does! Nothing we had to do. Some of us here may have been such a mess when it came to life. We knew nothing and God looked at us and said i chose you because you have high value. He saw what we could not see. In these days the word adoption had much different view that it does today. We see adoption today as someone that is in poverty, not wanted, or abandoned. Adoption in this culture was very common. People who were looking for a worthy heir to their kingdom would look for someone worthy to give their kingdom. They would look for someone that has value and potential. There was process to witnesses had to be present, paperwork had to be done. After all the formalities were done the person now had rights to the kingdom and it couldn't it be argued because of the witnesses and one last thing. Former debts were wiped clean. New record no debts! Amazing! Paul’s use of this word is spot on. Because once we become believers our former debts are wiped clean, and we are now heir to an eternal kingdom that offers blessings we now have access to. A picture of how our relationship with Christ is. Romans 5:6-8 says it best. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. “ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. |
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