1. Intro / God's Plan Our Place

Introduction

Good morning Church, how is your 2023? We are just one week into the New Year and how is it going? How are your resolutions going? Do people still do this? How many people made a serious New Years Resolution?

I feel like it is something that is closer to a mythical tradition that people know about and reference but rarely actually do. But to have a resolution is just to resolve to do something new or different and so maybe a new year happening is a good time to commit to something new.

Tension

This morning we are going to begin something new, or really we are going to begin doing something in a new way. Since September we have been looking into the letters or Epistles of the New Testament. These letters make up a large portion of the New Testament and so to tackle them in a year we have been looking at them from more of an overview perspective, focusing on the high points of Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians so far.

But to prepare to teach these high points, I was reading through the entire books and I began to be frustrated over all that we were missing. We were hitting the major themes, but still there were things that I wanted to see us dive deeper into but we just wouldn’t have time in our overview mode.

So in this new year, I resolved to do something different. Instead of continuing to hit the high points, I wanted to go deeper into the next book. But since the next book was Galatians, an epistle I have already taught on here, I decided to teach on the one after that. The book of Ephesians.

And a crazy thing happened. As soon as I decided to tackle Ephesians, I started to see it everywhere. The book kept coming up in everything else I was reading, listening to or studying. So I don’t know what this deeper dive into Ephesians will bring this next year, but I believe that God is leading us toward it and I have high hopes that there is something specific that He is leading us toward in this book.

One of the things that we will continue to do from last year is to have readers each week reading the text. That was such a fun and fruitful addition to our service and so as promised I have a sign up sheet if you are interested in reading or reading again in the coming weeks.

But because we are just introducing the book today, we are just going to cover the first two verses. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but there is more there than most of us would ever see if we didn’t stop to look.

This letter again is called Ephesians and it is found on page 976 in the Bibles in the chairs so you can read these two verses along with me or they will also be available on the screen.

Ephesians 1:1–2 (ESV)

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is it. And now I have the privilege of showing you how there is much more here than it seems. Let’s pray together and then we will unpack what is found here at the beginning of this letter together.

Truth

So as I said this is a letter and as such it begins with some formalities. We have the author, the audience and the greeting. But there is much more to be found here than just a quick opening.

We have in each one of these the answer to three very important questions. The question of “who, what and how”

The Author

The first half of verse 1 gives us the who, what and how of the author.

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

Since we have been studying the Epistles this past year we know who this Paul person is. Even more so if you were with us the year before when we walked through his life story in the book of Acts. This is Paul who was once called Saul and was a “Pharisee of Pharisees” and one of the chief persecutors of the Christian Church. Till one fateful day on the road to Damascus when God’s plan for his future eclipsed his own.

This is the story from Paul’s own lips as he relayed it to an earthly king:

Acts 26:12–18 (ESV)

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

This is the testimony of the Paul who is the “Who” that is writing this letter we call “Ephesians”. And we can see both here and in the beginning of Ephesians “What” he was.

If you were reading this Acts passage in the original Greek you could see the word “ἀποστέλλω” (apostello) in the phrase “to whom I am sending you”. This is “What” Paul is. He has been sent “apostollo” as a sent one ἀπόστολος (apostolos). This is one who has officially been sent as an emissary or delegate with the authority of a greater power like a King. An Apostle.

We can also see the answer to the question of “How”. How did Paul go from a significant leader in the the movement to destroy the Church to becoming a significant leader in the movement of planting and growing the Church?

In his testimony from Acts we see how He was appointed as such by Jesus himself, and in Ephesians 1:1 we see that he was made an - apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, This was God’s plan for Paul.

So in just the first few words of this book we learn a lot about the significance of this letter. It was the will of God the Father that this Paul would be sent in the authority of the Christ to testify that Jesus is Lord and Christ...“that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [Jesus].’

But this begs a question doesn’t it? if he was sent to do this why is he writing a letter? Isn’t writing a letter something like “phoning it in?” Since he was sent, why doesn’t he just go?

Well he did go. I have map for you of his many missionary journeys but I don’t expect you will be able to decipher many of the stops from this distance but that is the point. Paul followed God’s plan all over the know world at the time, testifying to Jesus works, teaching his ways, appointing Elders, planting churches and then he went back to encourage these churches over and over again…right up until he couldn’t do it anymore.

He didn’t get tired, burned out or finally reach that golden retirement age…that isn’t a thing for God’s servants...he was still going strong right up until he was arrested.

The reason that Paul began writing these many letters that we are blessed to still have today is because it was a part of God’s plan for him to be stuck in Rome under house arrest awaiting his trial. People could come to him, but he can no longer go to them.

One such person who came to visit is named Tychicus. This man is a pastor from Colossae, a city near Ephesus and the one that the book of Colossians was written to. If we were to zoom in on the (map) you can see Ephesus but Colossae is such a small town it didn’t make the map.

Anyway, Tychicus ends up being the mailman who delivers Paul’s letter called Ephesians on his way to deliver the letters of Colossians and even Philemon to the Church in Colossae. Paul explains this at the end of the book of Ephesians:

Ephesians 6:20–22 (NLT)

20 I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should. 21 To bring you up to date, Tychicus will give you a full report about what I am doing and how I am getting along.

He is a beloved brother and faithful helper in the Lord’s work. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you.

So that is the “who what and how” of the Author. This “Paul” was sent as an Apostle, but now can’t go in person so he continues his work by sending these letters by God’s will and plan.

The Audience

So that is the Author, but what about the Audience? The second half of verse 1 says:

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

The audience is described here as being “in” two places, but we are only certain of one of them. The first place they are said to be is “in Ephesus” and many of your Bibles may have a little footnote or asterisks there that leads you to that small print with an explanation that some of the most reliable early manuscripts do not include the phrase “in Ephesus” even though others do.

What theologians tells us is that this means that even though the letter was sent to Ephesus, it was never meant to stay there. It was actually a circular letter that was meant to travel around to the area Churches all over Asia Minor and give them all the advantage of this same teaching.

In addition, unlike many of Paul’s other letters, there is no personal references in Ephesus, like greet “so-and-so” or tell “so-and-so” to stop doing “such-and-such”. Nothing like that…because this is not a letter written to people who can be found “IN” relation to a particular place but to people who are found “IN” relation to a particular person. In other words… “In Christ Jesus”

This is the position of ever true Christian: to be “In Christ Jesus” and we might be fine with that…but what about that other label? We would be so quick to accept the label of “saint”?

We are not so comfortable with the word “saint” are we? We see that as too high of a bar for someone like us. We are fine being one of those “Christians”, but “I ain’t no saint.” Right?! Haven’t you heard that? Maybe even said it yourself?

And there could be many reasons for this. Maybe we still think that a saint is a dead guy with two bone fide miracles on the books and a spotless record of service to the Church? That is how some still see a “saint”.

But my theory is that they started waiting till you are dead, because if you were still living then they could come into your world and peek behind the curtain and... “nope, not a saint”. But since no one wants to talk ill of the dead, that is how they made that kind of “sainthood” happen.

That may be our experience, orrrr...maybe we are just comfortable with the idea that there is an “upper class” of Christian because it helps us to excuse some of our behavior. “I ain’t no saint”.

The problem is that the Bible makes no distinction between Christians and saints. The Greek word for saint is “ἅγιος” (hagios) and it means “to be sacred, holy or set apart”. And it is used repeatedly in Scripture to describe the community of Christians. In fact, in the book of Ephesians Paul uses it in every single chapter. Nine times in 6 chapters he speaks of these saints, these “set apart ones” who... are... faithful.

That is what gets us too, isn’t it? That is the What that “saints” are: They are faithful. Our only problem with that one is that we know ourselves…and how often we are not faithful.

So we ask “How?” How is this possible that being a Christian is the same thing as being a faithful “saint”. How could we ever live up to the kind of faithfulness that would merit the word “saint”?

And the answer is that we can’t…at least not on our own.

The only way that anyone can be a faithful saint is “in Christ”. You see the same root word is used for both “saint” and “sanctification”. Remember that word? The process that ever Christian is going through to become more and more like Jesus. It isn’t a faithfulness in the sense of perfection, but in the sense of faithfully continuing in the process of become more like Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:14 (ESV)

14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

That is being a Christian. That is being a saint. Our only perfection is in what Jesus has done for us, after that we are being sanctified “In Christ” as we progressively grow to be more like Him.

We will talk a lot more about that in the weeks to come, and in our Table Talks today we are going to begin the conversation about the implications of this position of being “In Christ”. What does it mean that Christ has set us apart as holy? And how then shall we live in light of this reality? We would love to have you join us.

So as we introduce this new Book series we have tackled that Author and Audience and now lets take a look at...

The Message

Ephesians 1:2 (ESV)

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course it would be easy to just rush right through this verse as just a common greeting of the time, and certainly it was used many times in Paul’s letters but that is not because it was common in the sense of ordinary. He routinely used it to get their attention because it was so very significant.

What does it mean for this Apostle, this one sent by the will of God, to declare “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”?

Truth is that we can find the hope of all humanity wrapped up in this short greeting.

It is a message of Creation

Genesis 1:1 (ESV) 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

This was the beginning of our God’s grace to us. He created this incredible World with all it’s wonder, complexity and beauty and He gave it to us, his pinnacle creation, to enjoy as an extension of Himself and a demonstration of His glory.

And we lived in peace with this world, peace with one another and best of all we lived in peace with God himself.

But this is also a message of our Corruption

Because someone had to be sent to declare Grace and Peace, we know that it is not the universal experience of humankind. We are no longer born into peace with this world, peace with one another and peace with our creator God.

Instead we are born in sin, selfishness and separation. Our Creator God graced us with His amazing creation and instead of enjoying it in the way that His glory deserved, we Corrupted it. This was true of our first parents and it is true of every one of us.

Psalm 14:2–3 (ESV)

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

But Paul isn’t greeting these Churches with a message of hopelessness, quite the opposite. In the midst of humanity’s reaching for new depths of depravity, our Creator God makes us a promise. In His loving grace toward us, God promises a King who conquer all that is wrong with this world and bring us back to the peace we have lost.

This is a Message of the Christ

This is what the book of Ephesians is all about, Jesus’ position as the Christ. Almost every time Jesus is mentioned in Ephesians it is with the moniker “Christ”. Did you notice that even here in these first two verses it is mentioned three times! The grace and peace that Paul is declaring to the readers of this letter is not just wishful thinking, it is grounded in the plan of our promise keeping God.

So the tagline for our series is “God’s Plan, Our Place in it” and one of the places that this shines brightest is from chapter 1 verses 9 and 10 where it says:

Ephesians 1:9–10 (NLT)

9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 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.

We will unpack more of this mysterious plan in the weeks to come, but for right now what we see, even from this short greeting, is that the Grace and Peace that Paul declares is only possible because of Christ. That is why it is being declared to the saints who are “in Christ”.

Lastly, this is a message of New Creation

The fact that Grace and Peace can again be declared to us is because “in Christ” God has fixed what we broke. In his perfect plan, He has restored what we corrupted. And while we have not yet experienced the fullness of that Restoration, and we will not until Jesus returns in glory... God has begun this work in us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Gospel Application

So in closing, we have answers for these last three questions.

Who is this message of Ephesians for?

Well it can be for you. Remember this Letter was written to circulate around to many different Churches and it has circulated all the way to us some 2000 years later on the other side of the world.

What is this message all about?

That the Grace of God has purchased for us Peace with God, peace with one another and a peace with our place in this world.

How has this been accomplished?

God’s plan of...

Creation Corruption Christ New Creation

Landing

But remember that God sent Paul to share this this Message to those who are “In Christ”. So the question is: Is that you? None of us could wear the label of “saint” on our own merits, but it is given to those “in Christ” because when God looks at us he doesn’t see us…He sees the righteousness of His son. So Jesus has us covered.

But if we have never placed our faith and trust “In Christ” then the good news of this message does not yet apply to us. But today could be the day. God is orchestrating His incredible plan and today could be the day that you begin to find your place in it. If you want to know more about this then come see me after the service. I would love to talk to you about what beginning a life “in Christ” is all about.

And for those of us who are already “In Christ” get ready. Because in the weeks to come we will be learning more details from this letter about God’s incredible plan, and looking to take our next steps in finding our place in it.

Let’s close in prayer.