Week 1. INTRO TO EPHESIANS

THE CHURCH: the foundation of the church.

We are going to go thru ephesians.

EPHESUS IS LA. It resembles LA in so many ways.

It was the epicenter of pagan worship of idols, this was the city that was home to the temple of artimus, who was a greek God.

The temple of the great goddess artemis was ranked abong the seven wonders of the ancient world.

For 2 hours straight they were chanting, great is artimus of the ephesians.

Paul spent years laboring and preaching the gospel to them. The whole city goes into uproar. Many are confused, including those who paul preached to.

In the midst of THIS. to THESE PEOPLE. Paul writes the book of ephesians

Its all about the glorious church.

William hendrickson says the theme of ephesians is the glorious church

the local church is largely overlooked. People say, I don't like organized religion, i just like having a relationship with Jesus.

Well, if you had a relationship with Jesus, you would love what He loves, and He loves the church.

Ask yourself these questions

How can we be the church in the midst of a disgustingly dark city?

What can we do as the church to bring light to a disgustingly dark city?

MY UNCLE STORY

This is the type of christian paul is writing to. Those who have a glorious inheritance but are AWFULLY unaware of it

Ephesians 1 is filled with deep theology

Ephesians 1-3: Who we are in Christ

Ephesians 4-6: What to do in light of that

Acts 20:27-31:

BE ALERT. I admonished them with tears

PAUL WAS ESSENTIALLY SAYING, I am going to give you DEEP theology, SO that when fierce wolves come, you may know exactly what is the gospel.

This book will teach you who you are, how much you have, and how to live in light of that

Notice the words in this book. Glory, riches, grace, etc. now those are all great things. But this book makes it very clear that they are only for those who are in christ

THERE ARE FIERCE WOLVES. And we must know EXACTLY WHAT IS THE GOSPEL

My pulse must be beating at the same beat as pauls.

I dont know who artimus is, but I KNOW the false gods of my generation.

READ EPHESIANS 1

Look at the structure of the book

Verses 1-2

Written to the saints in Ephesus

Grace and Peace (why did he greet the believers this way?) I believe it is because they are two things that produce righteousness. The source of obedience enabling power that we can walk in as christians, which paul later calls us into in ch. 4.

James 3:18, Hebrews 7:1-3, Isaiah 32:17, Psalm 85:10

Verses 3-14

3) Blessed (Eulogeo) v.3 (different from the word blessed in Romans 4:7 used as happy Makarioi) This doesnt mean happy. This means blessed, praisedworthy. It is used exclusively in the NT for God. When writers of the NT want to sum up or introduce God, they often describe him as the blessed one.

4) He chose us IN HIM. That we should be (sinners…) No! That we should be holy and blameless before Him. This can be a whole sermon lol

5) He predestined us for adoption. I dont understand God’s motives of choosing us and predetermining. Im not God. I dont understand it. Im just reading the verse. But one thing I do know and am giddy to say is that, HE WANTED US. NOTICE IS DOESNT SAY HE CHOSE US FOR SALVATION, HE CHOSE US FOR ADOPTION. We are chosen not just for salvation, but for holiness. Adoption is an incredbily intricate process. When speaking of an adopted child, we must ask ourselves, to what extent? If you ask many adopted kids about their adoption, they will say that their family only provided them with a home, but they still felt like an orphan. They can be legally in the family, but still excluded psychologically, they can be fully in the family, including physically, legally, mentally, and spiritually.

6) Blessed (charitoo) another word for blessed. This means favored. To bestow favor, showing kindness. He has shown us favor in Christ. He gave not some arbitrary unvaluable object away. He gave us christ. HIS BELOVED

7) Paul packs so much into such short sentences. We must read this slowly. The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace.