Ephesians #2
Sit/Walk/Stand
The Book of Ephesians
5/18/2002 and 5/19/2002
Review and Introduction
Last week we looked at the beginning of the church at Ephesus. We saw in chapter 19 of Acts how Paul went to that city and built a church that was healthy and reaching out. They were healthy but they still faced problems as all churches do.
The book of Ephesians is a balanced look at the Christian life. It isn’t written in response to a problem so the priorities are worth looking at.
The outline we are using is sit, walk, and stand. Everything begins with what God did. Religion says work harder. Christianity says believe first.
Next Paul talked about the family and our relationships. The New Testament knows nothing of a solitary Christian life. It is lived out in family and in community. Redemptive truth demands responsible living.
Lastly Paul talks about resisting our enemy. He tells us how to prepare for battle and how to stand strong.
There are plenty of ways I can go off on specific areas within this outline so I am trusting God to direct us into what we specifically need each week.
-As I read from the book of Ephesians I want you to look for phrases like: IN HIM, IN CHRIST, AND IN WHOM
Ephesians 1
1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 ¶ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
(Chapter 2
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,)
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.
15 ¶ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
23 which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way.
Chapter 2
1 ¶ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4 ¶ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
-What is all of that about?
-Get the series on “A Heart Set Free” where I talked about it for 6 weeks.
1. It All Begins with God
Heb 2:10 ¶ In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,…
Romans 1
16 ¶ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
-Everything we have is the result of God acting and us responding.
EXAMPLE: A drowning man has to stop struggling or else he will take you and him both down.
If he is holding on to a limb and you throw him a rope, he has to let go of the limb to take the rope.
EXAMPLE: If all of us were to swim from NEW YORK to ENGLAND, how many of us would make it? NONE. You might beat me but no matter what, your best isn’t good enough.
Psalm 49
7 No man can by any means redeem [his] brother, Or give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease [trying] forever—
WATCHMAN NEE EXAMPLE
-In order to be saved and receive what God has, you must trust in the power of another.
-It is like flying in an airplane. I have flown overseas before and I am trusting American Airlines or British Airways to tell me this guy who I have never met can get me there. That is faith, trusting in the power of another.
Ephesians 2
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.
-God did all the work.
-Even the ability to believe Him is a gift.
-God created the world and lastly on day six created man.
-Man’s first thing to do was rest-the Sabbath.
-The day begins with the evening.
-Rest comes first.
Hebrews 4
9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
11 ¶ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no-one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
-God did all of the work, He is a merciful and graceful God who provided for us.
2. He Seated Us in Christ and Blessed Us with Spiritual Blessings
-What does that mean?
-The Bible itself defines it.
v. 4 – he chose us in him
v. 5- he predestined us to be adopted as his sons
v. 7- we have redemption (we were bought back from slavery) through his blood
v. 9-he made know the mystery of his will
v. 11- we were chosen and predestined
v. 13- we were included in Christ
-That basically means that God has begun a good work in you.
-He has wiped out your past and isn’t holding anything against you.
-You are in Christ. Your life is in Him.
-To live is Christ, to die is gain.
-Your life is hidden in Christ with God.
-My mom’s relative traced her family back to European nobility.
-Unfortunately there is no money involved but our inheritance is in Christ.
-He has given us the Kingdom.
-We are joint heirs of everything. We are part of the family.
-Chapter 1:17-23 is a prayer that we could understand the depth of what he just told us.
-He prays that we would grasp:
THE HOPE OF OUR CALLING
OUR INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS
THE GREATNESS OF HIS POWER TO US
3. Paul then talks about our PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE
-He is real honest. We know where we came from.
Chapter 2
1 ¶ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
-He got our number.
-We were dead in sin. We followed the ways of the world and our flesh.
-We followed the devil whether we realized it or not.
-That’s who we used to be.
-He then goes on to tell who we are now.
-We don’t have to wait for heaven for salvation. We are saved now.
1 John 3
1 ¶ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
-We are seated with Christ.
-We are forgiven.
-We are changed.
-Then he goes on to tell what will happen to us.
Chapter 2
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
-Our future is as bright as Jesus.
-Your hope is tied up in Him.
-We had a float in the parade one year when the theme was “Back to the Future” and it said, LOOK BACK TO YOUR FUTURE.
-In other words, what Jesus did for you guarantees your future.
4. We Are God’s Work of Art
Chapter 2
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
-There is your value.
-God didn’t just fix you. He created you.
-He didn’t just get sin out of you. He lovingly molded you so your future would be glorious.
-The word there for workmanship is “poiema”. (poy-ay-mah)
-It is the Greek word from which we get poetry and poem.
-We are the work of a craftsman. That craftsman is God.
· IT ALL BEGINS WITH GOD
· WE ARE SEATED WITH CHRIST AND BLESSED WITH HIM IN HEAVENLY PLACES
· GOD DEALT WITH OUR PAST/OUR PRESENT/ OUR FUTURE
· WE ARE GOD’S WORK OF ART
-The first key is that we are seated with Christ.
-Communion-we are proclaiming the Lord’s death. Let’s say YES to Him and all He wants to do in us.