GREETINGS FROM PRISON

GREETINGS IN CHRIST

Intro:

It had been at least 60 years since Christ Died. Paul had been put in chains and He appealed to Caesar. He now finds himself in prison for preaching salvation in Christ by faith. El dice en Efesios 3:1 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—” Y lo vuelve a mencionar en Efesios 6:20.

The only things He could do was pray, witness to others and send letters. And thats what He did. Among the 13 letters he wrote, 4 of them were written in prison. The Letter to the Ephesians was one of them.

Efesios era la capital de la provincia romana en Asia. Era por tanto una ciudad importante ya que contaba con mucha influencia de personas y era un lugar estratégico para llevar el evangelio a toda Asia Menor. Pablo había visitado la ciudad y predicado el evangelio tanto en la sinagoga judía como en una escuela de un hombre llamado Tirano. Por casi 3 Años el Apóstol predicó el evangelio y la iglesia en Éfeso quedó constituida.

Sin embargo, hubo oposición ya que muchas personas estaban llegando a la fe en Cristo y abandonando su idolatría. Eso causó un enorme alboroto en la ciudad ya que la religión principal era la adoración a la diosa Diana (Artemis en griego). Esta era la diosa de la fertilidad que tenía una enorme estatua en Éfeso. El templo de Diana era una de las siete maravillas del mundo antiguo. Era un poco más grande que un campo de fútbol.R.C. Comments: It was 425 feet in length and 220 feet in breadth. Architecturally it was composed of 127 white marble columns, each 62 feet high…Its chief attraction, however, was an image of Diana said to have fallen directly from heaven to earth. The temple was so popular among pagans that Ephesus emerged as the religious centre of all Asia.

R. C. Sproul, The Purpose of God: Ephesians (Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 1994), 12.

El alboroto que causó la predicación de la salvación en Cristo y no en Diana y en otras deidades, hizo que la gente reunida en el famoso Teatro de Éfeso, gritara por dos horas !GRANDE ES DIANA DE LOS EFESIOS!

Context:

1. FROM THE MESSENGER OF CHRIST V. 1a

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott The Difference between the Apostles and Their Successors

“This is the difference between the apostles and their successors: the former were sure and genuine scribes of the Holy Spirit, and their writings are therefore to be considered oracles of God; but the sole office of others is to teach what is provided and sealed in the Holy Scriptures. We therefore teach that faithful ministers are now not permitted to coin any new doctrine, but that they are simply to cleave to that doctrine to which God has subjected all men without exception.”

SOURCE: John Calvin, Institutes (Westminster John Knox, 1960), IV.viii.9.

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Apostolic Authority in the Church

The church has always recognized the unique authority of [the] apostles of Jesus. He chose, appointed, and authorized them to teach in his name.

• Ignatius (AD 110): “I do not issue you with commands like Peter and Paul. For I am not an apostle, but a condemned man.”

• Tertullian (third century): “It is forbidden for Christians to introduce anything on their own authority or to accept something which a person introduced by his own authority. The apostles of the Lord are our authority.”

• Martin Luther: “Jesus has submitted the whole world to the apostles, who are the only people who can enlighten it.… And the people of the world, kings, princes, lords, educated men, wise men, must sit down while the apostles stand up, listen while the apostles speak.”

2. TO THE CHOSEN IN CHRIST v.1b

3. GRACE AND PEACE FROM CHRIST v.2

Paul was in prison (Efesios 6:20 “for which I am an ambassador in chains—so that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” ) Yet He has the ability to say “grace and Peace”. How can you see the grace in the midst of persecution? and pain? How can you talk about peace when youre in chains suffering for preaching about Christ?

Only because of the work that Christ can do in us.

Grace is an undeserved gift. He knew he did not deserve to be called an apostle, much less to be instituted a messenger and much less to have peace with Christ, yet all of this and more, had been achieved exclusively through the person and work of Jesus Christ, The Lord!

Have you received the grace of Christ? Are you a partaker of the undeserved gift of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone?

Receive His Grace through Christ. REpent of your sins and Confess Christ as your Lord and savior, and you will begin to understand what Grace means. You will understand that that salvation didnt come for free, it came at a price, the price of the Blood of Jesus being shed for you. If only you would believe, you would experience his grace. You would experience the real peace that comes through Christ alone. I dont mean that he will take your problems away, He may and then he may not, but one thing is certain, He will give you peace! Peace for every circumstance you may face.

The “and” in this passage talks about someone who is equally the same. Christ Jesus is equally divine. Equally righteouss, equally loving, equally Holy. Equally eternal. All blessings flow from the Father, but all blessings flow equally from Christ and the Holy Spirit.

St. Agustine said about the Trinity: “If you can understand it, it’s not God” (p. 9).—Augustine

John Stott, The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott, ed. Mark Meynell (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

We dont understand it but we believe it because God teaches it through the apostles in the Bible.