Why Study Ephesians?

Week 1 | Ephesians 1:1-2

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.

Eph 1:1–2

Introduction

Good morning, we are kicking off our series on “Paul’s letter to the Ephesians” today. I have quite a struggle as I study the letter again and as I prepare this first message today. Because it’s an overwhelmingly rich divine masterpiece. Its truth weighs heavily on me. I sleep and I dream about Ephesians. 🙂 Sometimes I’m lost for words on how to really communicate the glorious truth that the Lord is teaching me in this letter. I’m still on the journey with it.

Someone says that sermon preparation is like being pregnant (HS gives you a seed of truth to be conceived in your heart), you carry this heavy load from monday to Saturday (it develops throughout the week as pray, reflect and study about it) and it gets intensified on Saturday night then it gets released and birthed out on Sunday.

Furthermore, how do you preach a sermon based on just those two verses of introduction and greetings. How many of you read Ephesians and just skip over these two verses? Like you don’t spend hours and do your devotions on verses 1 and 2 right? So maybe your question to me as my wife asked me last night “unsay makutlo nato ana diha”?

How many of you love to travel and explore new places?

Of course when you travel to a new place you will be asking lots of questions. Like how much is the ticket? What is our mode of transportation? Where will we be staying? How much is our overall budget? What is our itinerary? How do we make the most of it?

These questions are important because they give us a set of expectations. Expectations are good because they give us something to look forward to.

This is my goal in week 1 as we kick-off our series of study in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

We are going to look at three things from this verses:

The author of the letter

The audience of the letter

The atmosphere of the letter

The Author of the Letter

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

The letter begins by introducing us to its author. If a mailman from an LBC knocks at your door and says “Ma’am/Sir you have a letter”. What’s the usual reply? “Asa na gikan?” Usually we ask for the source, the writer of the letter. Why? It helps us prepare emotionally and set our expectations.

Similarly, ancient letters are like that. The only difference is that it introduces us to the author first. The authors' names are put in the last part in modern letters today. In ancient times it’s not efficient to do that because they usually wrote their letter on a scroll. They would scroll and unscroll if they do that and it probably messes up the letter in a process.

Paul is the author of this letter. Trusted scholars and theologians believe that Paul wrote this letter when he was in prison in Rome. He didn’t actually write it but dictate it to Tychicus, his assistant and his delivery man as well. In fact, many scholars believe that Ephesians was written at the same time Paul wrote Colossians.

Colossians 4:16 - And when this letter [Colossians] has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea (Ephesians).

How did Paul introduce himself in the letter? Paul says that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus. The word apostle usually means someone who has seen the risen Christ and brings the message of Christ. That qualifies Paul because he saw Christ in the Damascus road. He was a religious zealot whose aim was to kill the followers of Jesus. Jesus on his mercy rescues Paul and commissions him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles - non-Jewish part of the world. That’s why he went to Ephesus as a missionary of the Good News of this Jewish Messiah named Jesus.

So for Paul, being an apostle of Christ Jesus is not according to his will or ambition. It is something that is sovereignly assigned by God to him. Paul reflects on this in his letter to the Galatians…

But when he [GOD] who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles (Galatians 1:15–16)

Paul is introducing himself to us as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He is establishing his credibility and the divine authority of his letter. What is the implication of this to us?

Point: This letter that we are about to study has authority over our lives because ultimately it comes from God. {He didn’t make this up- when he wrote that salvation is by grace through faith… } When I submit to it, I submit to God. When I reject it, ultimately I reject God. There’s no neutrality when you hear it. You either receive it or rebel against it.

My prayer is that as we study throughout this letter that you have a heart that submits to the authority of the Word of God. Some of its teaching is comforting and some of it is challenging. Some of it requires faith, some of it requires repentance. Whatever the Holy Spirit is calling us individually and as a church let us take heed!

To benefit in this study we must come with an attitude of reverence and submission to what God will be teaching to us in this letter. We must take off our sandals and recognize that the ground we are walking is a holy ground as we listen to its message.

Not only we must receive it but we must study it like what the early church did in the book of Acts which Luke describes as ‘they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching.’ This apostolic gift of instruction is not only a gift to the Ephesians but also to us. (‘devoted’ - focus/priority - they make it a habit to prioritize the study of the Apostolic Teaching. If you profess to follow Christ - this is your call! If you are Christian, parent with the Word…)

Challenge: For the next few weeks, read the whole letter of Ephesians in one setting or chapter by chapter. Read it in different versions. Make this as part of your daily devotions. Underline or circle the repeated words. List all your questions and observations along the way. List the indicatives (statement/fact about God, yourself, sin, Christ, salvation, church) and then list the imperatives (the command) that we should obey.

The reformers have this saying “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbi Dei” ("The church is Reformed and always [in need of] being reformed according to the Word of God”). That’s my prayer that we will be reformed, realigned, changed from the inside out through its divinely inspired teaching as individuals, families and as a church community.

The Audience for the Letter

To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus…

Obviously the letter is addressed to the Ephesians. These are believers living in Ephesus. If it is addressed to people in Davao, it should be read in letters to Davaoenians. :)

Interestingly, some earliest manuscripts of this later have no word for “Ephesus”, in other words there’s no recipient. It led some scholars to believe that this is a “circular” letter to be read in all the churches surrounding the Ephesian region (Modern Turkey) - also called Asia Minor. Paul spent much of his time actually evangelizing this region.

Let’s look at 1 Cor. 16:8-9

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (opposition). (1 Co 16:8–9)

Here, the Apostle sees a ‘wide door of opportunity’ - here we see that the Apostle Paul is always looking for opportunities to preach the Gospel. One of those opportunities is in Ephesus.

And yet even though it’s God’s open door, it doesn’t mean there’s no challenges or opposition along with it. Paul says “along with the wide door for effective work for him are “many adversaries”.

Sometimes if it’s God’s will there will be no opposition. The will of God does not mean you are free from opposition. When Paul starts to go through Ephesus (see Acts 19) he spent 3 years there teaching preaching for two years in their lecture hall. In Ephesus they have this place called “agora” it's a marketplace where people from different places go there to buy and sell and stay for a while. And at noon, they have this siesta time and everyone who has ideas or certain philosophies can stand and share and people ask questions and debate. In two years Paul did that tirelessly that it says in Acts 19:10

This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. (Ac 19:10)

But this doesn’t come easy for Paul, he also encountered lots of opposition. Let’s look at Acts 19:8ff

And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. (Ac 19:8–9)

Later on Paul’s preaching ministry causes Riot in Ephesus because a certain man named Demetrius complained that people no longer buy his idols of their goddess Artemis or Diana. He causes an uproar. But eventually the riot was stopped by the town clerk. (Read the rest in Acts 19)

There’s a lot of challenges in preaching the gospel in Ephesus (and in our city). Idolatry and paganism is everywhere. Ephesians worship Artemis, the goddess of fertility. In her temple were prostitutes where they offered sex to their worshippers. They have political opposition because Ephesians believe that Caesar is Lord and the Gospel proclaims that Jesus is Lord. In the backdraft of all these is the obvious magic, witchcraft and occult demonic practices of the Ephesian region.

Yet God used the faithfulness of Paul in his preaching to birth the church in Ephesus. The church was birthed out in the midst of intense opposition.

Application: “GOD’S OPEN DOORS DO NOT REMOVE OPPOSITIONS” There will be challenges and opposition as we do the will of God in preaching the Gospel yet we must find ways to be faithful to continually proclaim the Good News. If you are going to follow the will of God in reaching your family with the Gospel, your city with the gospel, your workplace with the gospel, your boarding house with the gospel - there will be opposition. (You might be tempted to quit, because maybe it’s not the will of God)

Story - barangay evangelism - grabe challenge - nagpreach akong kauban -gihikap ang lobot.

When you are doing the will of God there will be challenges. When you start to go to church, there will be intense distraction, the enemy will use it to distract your attention. When you start to surrender your life to God, there will be fear and discouragement of what if- where do those voices come from?

If you are Christian recently converted to this kind of culture (we still live with that kind of culture) how would you encourage yourself to be faithful to Jesus? How will live out your faith successfully amid this hostile environment?

Listen again to how Paul addresses them…

“To the saints…faithful…”

The word saints is something that doesn’t speak to us directly. When we think of it we think of pious people out there. But saints from this context are everyday believers in Christ trying to figure out how to live out their faith in Christ. The word saints should be translated as “holy ones”. The word ‘holy’ means ‘to set apart’. Israel is a holy nation because she is set apart from other nations for Yahweh. The temple is holy in OT because it is set apart for the sacrifices and worship for God. As believers we are saints - holy - set apart for God. (All of us are called to a life of devotion for God)

So we learned something about Ephesus, the challenges of the gospel ministry there and how Paul address them: (applies to us)

1) We have been set apart for God. (Holy/Saints/Set Apart) (toothbrush - para ra na sa imo baba, dili pud na para sa imong tiil)

2) We live simultaneously in two location. “In Ephesus” & “In Christ Jesus”

As believers we need to recognize these two dimensional realities. Because whether you are aware of it or not - where you live eventually shapes you and molds you. You are being formed and shaped by your environment or location. The reason you speak conyo is because Davao culture has shaped you. “Mainit masyado” You adapt to your environment. If you grow up in a home that is affirming and encouraging you probably don’t struggle much with your self-image. If you grow up in an environment that is toxic and guilt-driven, the opposite of the latter will happen. Environment influences us. I heard one Hollywood celebrity say - “I live in New York, then New York lives in me.”

But Paul says, you also need to remember that you now live in Christ. You now draw your life from Him. He becomes the most influential person in your life. More intimate than your spouse. Your source of strength, meaning and identity. All of God’s provision and resources are accessed and secured in Him - you are in Him. Let this new location, and new geography define how you live in Ephesus everyday of your life. When you wake up - you wake up in Christ. When you make a coffee - you are making Christ. When you work tomorrow - you are working in the realm of Christ. (We’ll talk about this more…) As our physical environment shapes who we are, let this spiritual environment shape who we truly are. Amen!

The Atmosphere of the Letter

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

After Paul introduces himself, and addresses his audience, he then greets them. When I say atmosphere I mean the tone or mode of the typical Christian greetings in NT. It’s what I call the “Vibe” - the Christian Vibe. Every place has a certain vibe. Every person or community has a vibe. What should be the Christian vibe? Note: this is a prayer-wish.

Grace & Peace. Paul prays for ‘grace’ to the Ephesians. Grace is all of God’s provision, power and resources at the disposal to a believer in Christ Jesus. It’s God's kindness, favor and presence to us who don’t deserve it. Paul as a theologian of grace, new covenant is a covenant of grace expect us to understand, access and live out God’s grace in our lives. In fact, here’s my challenge, read Ephesians and underline how many times the word ‘grace’ occurs?

Peace is a result of God’s grace, kindness and favor toward us. Without God’s grace we don’t have peace with him, in ourselves and to one another. This also repeated throughout the letter of Ephesians. Read and underline how many times ‘peace’ is used in the letter.

“Christ is our peace”

“We proclaim the good news of peace”

“We are to keep the peace…”

“We are to put on the gospel of peace…”

This grace and peace ONLY comes from “God our Father” and “the Lord Jesus Christ”. This is not found in endless academic pursuits. This is not found in having a lot of money. “Katong wa koy kwarta medyo wa koy peace tungod sa akong kabalaka… katong daghan napud koy kwarta nawala samot akong peace ky nabusy napud ko pangita unsaon nako padaghanon akong kwarta ky basig mawala”

Notice: Peace is always second after grace. Grace then peace. It’s never peace and grace. You know why? Because you never experience peace, real peace within your soul if you don’t understand - it is all by God’s grace. Salvation is not by religion but by God’s grace. It’s not by how good you are but how good Jesus is. When you know His grace you will know his peace.

Some of you can’t sleep at night because there’s something bothering you, maybe your guilt. Some of you don't have peace in yourselves and to the people around you simply because God is not your Father and Jesus is not your Lord.

Maybe today it’s time to come home to him. Stop resisting and stop trusting. Stop looking at yourself and stop looking to Him. Repent from yourself and pride and self-righteousness. Come home to His family.

Note: Where is the Holy Spirit? Why is the Father and the Son only mentioned in the greetings? He is implied in grace and peace, for He is the one that God the Father and the Lord Jesus gives to us in order to experience grace and peace.

Did you see this beautiful picture? Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit enveloping us with grace and peace.

Review:

The Author of the Letter

The Letter to the Ephesians is Paul’s apostolic and authoritative instructions to the church and we should study and submit to its teaching.

The Audience of the Letter

Like the Ephesians, we learn that we are “set apart” for the purposes of God and live simultaneously in two places (our current physical environment and “in Christ”) As our physical environment shapes and forms us so should our spiritual environment in Christ.

The Atmosphere of the Letter

Grace and peace are the theme of our lives as the Holy Trinity gives and envelopes us in it.

Conclusion

As you ponder all these things, I don’t want you to think about four things you are going to do as if living as a Christian is like pulling your bootstrap and trying as hard as you can. I want you to trust the Lord and surrender to these realities. I want you to see that God is really good. That the Christian is really beautiful. The center of your life is not you but Jesus. He is the center of this letter. He is the Lord who was crucified but then risen to be crowned as the Lord of the universe. He will gather all things in the universe and the entire cosmos under His faith. That’s the story we are invited to behold as we study this letter.

There’s a song that we will song in closing: “Lord of Lords”

Now unto the lamb

Who sits on the throne

Be glory and honour and praise

All of creation resounds with the song

Worship and praise him

The Lord of love