The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 8SEP

EPHESIANS

Greetings!

Get to know ya..

Your name (plus family)

How long have you been attending LBC

Favorite book you’ve read recently? or, Hobby/interest?

Briefly:

Introduce Sink family

Answer above questions

Briefly give a background of my faith journey

Welcome to ABF

Thank you for signing up!

ABF = A.B.F. = Adult Bible Fellowship

Adult

Thankful for the eclectic mix: young/old, no kids/kids/grandkids, single/married, old timer LBCers and new friends

Bible

Format: verse-by-verse

Translations: Me-am using ESV/LSB, welcome perspective from yours if it differs!

Church Center

Y’all have the app?

Explain member info, chat channels, events, and resources (will periodically upload background/further study material, provide worksheets for class)

Plug for scripture journals

Fellowship

Mission: build relationships that go outside this choir room

Living living life together, alongside one another on this pilgrim’s path

Lunch after church // shindig at the Sink’s house (or others!) // ABF brunches/potlucks // kids soccer games // caroling together at Christmastime // all ideas are welcome!

Excited to grow friendships, hope you are, too!

Bottom Line…

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

My prayer: that we’d be like the Thessalonians!

In times of want/plenty, joy/sorrow, disagreement/agreement, lovingly holding one another accountable, whatever may come…

…I pray that we would “encourage one another and build one another up”, bearing one another’s burdens, loving one another, mimicking the love God has for his children

SO, that’s ABF in a nutshell! Thank you for making this commitment! It’s going to be a blast, and profitable for your soul.

If these last couple minutes defined WHAT ABF is, these next couple will define WHY we do ABF’s here at LBC.

From the Church Covenant…

SEEK the Lord in worship

STUDY God’s Word in personal and shared study

SERVE the body of Christ

SHARE Christ with each other and the world

Plug the Discover LBC and Open ABF class, if applicable

Highlight direction connection to the second category

Matthew 4:1–4 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ””

John 6:32–35 “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

We learn from this…

Man = body + spirit

On this side of heaven, both need food!

“live” in the spiritual sense = need “bread from heaven” or “bread of God”, who is the Man of God = Jesus

John 1 equates Jesus w/ the Word

THEREFORE, in order for our spirits to live, we NEED the word.

THIS is why ABF is so important, and a foundational aspect of how we covenantally follow Christ’s teaching on what our souls need.

All of that said, so very happy to journey through Ephesians with y’all.

Without further adieu, let’s pray, then intro + 1:1-2

PRAY

Intro to Ephesians

Brief overview of the background to this letter, 5W’s:

Who (wrote/received), Where (written/received), When, Why (which will be mostly bourn out over the next several months)

Where is Ephesus?

Big to small w/ Google Maps images

Gateway to Asia

Cayster River, inland access

protected bay, Aegean Sea access

Main E-W Roman highway thru Ephesus, overland inland access

Both a strategic military and commercial location

Characteristics

150,000 - 250,000 people, one of the largest cities, Roman Asian capital, diverse population

Stadium/theater built while Paul was there (53-56AD), held 25,000 people

Pagan capital of Asia

Temple of Diana (Artemis, in Gk)

one of the 7 Wonders of the World

Parthenon times 4. 425 x 220 ft, ~70ft high, 127 white marble columns

Featured the image of Artemis, “fallen directly from heaven to earth”

Fertility goddess, goddess of the woods, massive cult worshipers

After Artemis cult, generally speaking huge center of occult art/practice

Read ( or paraphrase, time dependent) Acts 18:18-28, Acts 19, Acts 20:13-38

Discuss:

- duration of stay in Asia area (3+ years)

- signs by the form of miracles (“trumping” the magicians “power”—>book burning

- the size of the riot caused by the power of God’s presence in the apostle as witness

- tender, loving, pastoral care for the elders of the church in Ephesus

Paul: —> Jerusalem—>gets arrested—>arduous journey—>Rome—>imprisoned.

This letter, + Colossians, 2 Timothy, Philemon, Philipians, written. “prison letters” ~60-62AD, ~5-10yrs after living in Ephesus

We’ve covered then When and the Where, now the Who. Let’s go to the text…

WHO

Ephesians 1:1–2 (ESV)

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

Criticism of: Authorship and Readership

Authorship

Vocab used (hapax legomena)

Impersonal tone, “circular” letter (connected to Readership, will circle back to this momentarily)

No personal references. Failed arg in light of “circular” letter

Many other more nuanced arguments

“apostle” and “by will of God”: messenger empowered and commissioned by God’s sovereign will

Virtually all scholarship agrees Paul did in fact pen this letter.

Readership

“in Ephesus” issue

The oldest, and most complete, manuscripts omit “in Ephesus”, yet shortly added in in later mss.

Ephesians Recipients

There is early and widespread attestation among the MSS and early church fathers (e.g., Irenaeus, Origen, the Muratorian Canon, Clement of Alexandria) that this epistle was sent to the Ephesians, and so it seems best to accept this testimony

10yrs had past, population had grown, no record of communication in the interim…

Paul addresses to Ephesus (his heart was there), also knowing it would circulate throughout Asia.

WHY

He’s writing to the “saints”

believers, who have been tested and have remained faithful

They had two locations, two identities: in Ephesus, and in Christ

Wild, pagan, powerful society around them (think back to riot)

He’s about to launch into a powerful, pastoral definition of Christianity at large

I think: this letter was a snap of the chalk line, clearly defining Christianity, to EQUIP and ENCOURAGE those in Christ, for their own souls, and for the souls of those around them!

Benediction

Set’s the tone of the entire letter: “Grace and peace”

Grace: not just simply love, but the irresistible love of a SOVEREIGN, transcendent God, who loves whom He wills, whose word never fails.

Reminding those in Christ of this kind God-sized loved with which they are loved

Peace: not just a trouble-free life, but peace with GOD.

God desires for us to rejoice in the assurance of His love!

who’s read Ps 136?

This is why Paul is speaking this blessing over them.

“from God our Father”

Ephesians (Application and Devotional Implications) - S. M. Baugh

That God the Father is our Father should be seen as the most extraordinary privilege imaginable

Psalm 103:11–13 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”

Christians, like the Ephesians 2000 years ago, and us now, were once “children of wrath” (eph2:3), yet now have been adopted as children, bought by the blood of the second person in the benediction, regally addressed with His full title “the Lord Jesus Christ”

These themes [God’s Sovereignty, redemption, justification, adoption] are going to be laid bare to us in this letter.

Closing

Covered 5W’s today, briefly.

Tie a bow on the final one, the Why, quote from pastor, scholar, and teacher Ian Hamilton.

Intro to his commentary on Ephesians:

Ephesians Introduction

John Owen, the great English Puritan, wrote, “Our greatest hindrance in the Christian life is not our lack of effort but our lack of acquaintedness with our privileges.” In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul elaborates and expands in a most wonderful way on the God-given, Christ-secured, Holy Spirit-applied privileges of the Christian life. Here, perhaps more than anywhere else in the New Testament, we are brought face-to-face with the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8). Step by adoring step, Paul introduces us to the spiritual blessings that are the predestined (1:4–5), blood-bought (1:7) privileges of everyone who has put their self-abandoning trust in Jesus Christ.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is a spiritual Mount Everest. It turns us away from ourselves and places the spotlight of God’s great salvation on Christ and His perfect work of redemption.

Ephesians A Pastoral Letter

Paul’s intention throughout Ephesians is to deliver us from “our morbid pre-occupation with ourselves,” which Martyn Lloyd-Jones called “the peculiar error of this present [twentieth] century.” Paul wants to give us a panoramic and exhaustive understanding of the greatness of our Savior, the salvation He has won for us, and the exalted calling we have in Christ. “What we need primarily,” wrote Lloyd-Jones, “is not an experience, but to realise what we are, and who we are, what God has done in Christ and the way He has blessed us.” As Christians, we so often live like spiritual paupers when we are spiritual billionaires, blessed in Christ “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (1:3).

Appropriate conclusion: picking up in verse 3 next week!

v3-14 is the next cohesive chunk we’ll tackle. May take a couple weeks.

Feel free to read ahead!

PRAY

See you next week!

Ephesians 1:3-14