United in Christ

Ephesians 1:1-14 - One IN Christ - What God Has Done Doug Partin - The Christian Church - 02-02-2020 (Video for 08-30-200 We studied through a sermon series earlier this year, pre-Covid pandemic, that covered the first four chapters of the Apostle Paul's letter to the church he helped establish in Ephesus. You may not realize it, but Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia minor at that time. It was located on the west coast of what is now Turkey. Back then, it was a leading commercial center, situated at the intersection of two major trade routes. It was the city where East met West, with the resulting exchange of ideas and philosophies and all the controversies that resulted from this exchange. Ephesus boasted the temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was four times larger in size than the famed Parthenon in Athens. In addition to its worship ministries, this temple also served as the bank of Asia Minor, for it was one of the few places where money could be safely deposited and reliably collected at a later time. The city also boasted an enormous theatre which is estimated to have held a maximum of 50,000 people. And there were a lot of people in and around Ephesus that often filled it up, as there were about 330,000 of them, so it was about 3/5ths the size of Albuquerque. And among those people was a large colony of Jews. Paul went to the Jewish sector first with the gospel, but after being rejected by them, he moved on to the lecture hall of Tyrannus where he spoke every day, and the church came alive, growing daily. From that strategic center Luke said that the gospel message spread "so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord" (Acts 19:10). That's an amazing accomplishment, and one that makes me ask, "Who has heard the word of the Lord" as a result of what we have done as the church here in Los Alamos? There could be more, but there could be a lot less. Ephesus and the other cities of Asia Minor, where churches had been established during that time, are mentioned in John's book of Revelation (1:4-3:22). By the time that John wrote, about 25-30 years after Paul planted the church in Ephesus, the church had grown, but it also needed to repent and return to its first love, which it must have done, for Ephesus continued as a leading center of Christianity for several centuries. Just as an aside, before writing his book in exile, John spent time in Ephesus teaching and preaching; and there is even a strong tradition that John brought along with him Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was placed in his care at the cross, to live out her final days in relative safety at this church. When Paul wrote his letter to this church, he was imprisoned (3:1; 4:1), that is, he was confined by chains (6:20). But he doesn't say exactly where he was imprisoned at the time. And he was imprisoned in many places. But it was most likely during his Roman imprisonment, around 62 AD. He was allowed to live in a private dwelling, where people could come and go, but guards were assigned to stay with him as well as the shackles that bound him. He lived that way for two years. And it was during that time when Paul met and converted the runaway slave Onesimus. Not long after his conversion, Paul received the news about the growing divisions in the church at Colossae (Col 1:9), the home town of Onesimus (Col 4:9). Paul not only determined to send a letter to them, but also decided to send Onesimus back to Philemon at the same time. Having penned letters to address the problems at the church as well as Onesimus' personal situation. Paul also wrote this letter, which seems to have been intended not only for those in the church at Ephesus alone, but also for all the churches in Asia Minor, which is why there are no personal greetings at the end of this letter. And why a few ancient manuscripts don't have the phrase "at Ephesus." Those just say, "To the saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus." But these various churches to whom Paul sent this letter had a common problem. They were not always on the same page about everything, and those differences led some to think more highly of their side of the argument and themselves than they should have done. The "me" and "my way" became the basis of identifying an "us" who were opposed to a "them" who did not want to do things "my way." Divisions in the church are often more about the people than the issue they argue over. But there are right ways to do things, there is a "Christian standard," and that is what Paul would share with these ancient believers in this letter. Despite the growing division among the believers in ancient Ephesus, the apostle Paul proclaimed in this letter that all believers are united as one in Christ. There is and never was an "us" and a "them" when it comes to the Church. You are either a part of it or you're not. You may not be the best expression of it, but even then, you are still an expression of the church. It is not until, as John would tell these churches, that their lampstand is removed, would they cease being the church. Their unity as the church, as well as ours, was the result of what God had done in Christ alone. And not about what any of them had accomplished. They, nor we, had any real say in the matter. We responded to God's call, but it was God who had a plan that was put in motion, and God who called us to join Him. If they had been the ones calling, it would have ended up looking like the selection of a pickup game of tag football. Leaders would rise up, each would make selections, and players would accept, and two or more teams would emerge and they would compete against each other. And that was happening inside this ancient church. One team thought that they were the true church, and the others who didn't measure up, were not the church at all. And the only way for them to become a part of the real church was to join their team. These "Church" teams were not based on what God had done, but on whether a particular idea of what a believer should or should not be was embraced. They were based on what one should or shouldn't do. While I don't like to say it, we, the church today, are often prone to exclude others based on our self-estimation. That is, we think that in order for someone to be a part of the church, they have to be exactly like us, because we are the best example of what the church is, right? If you haven't watched this week's Adult Sunday School lesson about the problems that striving for perfection can unleash you should do so. The link is at the end of the online Sunday School tab. Unlike the world, the church is to imitate God who loves the whole world, not just "people like us." Those who were "the faithful" at the ancient Church in Ephesus to whom the apostle Paul wrote this letter from prison in Rome did not become "saints" by their own endeavors or worth. Saint is a word that means holy. It was because of what God had done that they had been set apart; and Paul reminded them of this fact in these opening sentences of Ephesians. Paul said that God had blessed them with every spiritual blessing. What were those blessings? I am going to read verses 3-14, which is where Paul enumerated them, but before I do, I am going to list the blessings for you, so as I read, you can pick them out. As Peter said, Paul can make a simple idea difficult to understand. Here are the things that God had done: * God had chosen them in Christ. (exelexato - to speak out) * God had predestined them to be adopted as sons in Christ. (proorizo - to set the limits in advance) * God had redeemed them in Christ. (apolutrosin - loosen away) * God had made known (gnosis) to them the mystery of His will in Christ. * God had sealed (stamped with a signet or a private mark) His promises to them with the Holy Spirit. * God had given them in the Holy Spirit a pledge (a down payment) of an inheritance in Christ. Here is what Paul wrote: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him we have also obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. NASV Eph 1:3-14. Did you also hear what Paul said that they had done? They had listened and they had believed, and as we'll find out later in this letter, they had responded to what God had done for them in faithful obedience. But that didn't stop some of them from feeling that what God had done was only for them alone and for those just like themselves. What identified and distinguished them were their Jewish customs and traditions. And they could not accept that what God had done was also for those who did not first become Jewish. This was a huge division in the early church. Today, not so much. We are okay with Jewish people who accept Jesus as their Messiah, and we call them Messianic Jews. We are even fascinated by them, and would encourage more Jews to become Messianic. But we think of them as just another group of Christians who want to keep their cultural identity. Sort of like what a cowboy church is, or a biker church is, or a hula church for that matter. But if Messianic Jews started saying that everyone had to become Jewish in order to be a Christian, we'd have a problem. Or if everyone had to become a cowboy, or a biker, or take up hula, or any other cultural identity. We'd say that it is what Christ has done that unites us, and not any of that other stuff. Paul wanted these ancient believers in Ephesus to remember that God embraced the whole world. That what He has done, He has done for everyone. But God's love for the whole world, and His offer of grace to the whole world was more than what these ancient Jewish believers could accept. Why? They had grown up with the idea that they alone were God's special people. They had been taught that their traditions, which they believed were the only valid expressions of the commands in Scriptures (OT), further distinguished them as God's only people. So, it really bugged them that Christians (that is, Gentile believers) were not asked to keep these traditions. These Jewish believers were also offended that their former standing as God's chosen people did not pre-qualify them to be the recipients of God's blessings. After all, they were already His children, right? Paul would say, yes and no. Yes, they had a special relationship with God, but no, they were not prequalified. They had to accept by faith what God had done in Christ, just like everyone else. In other words, this ancient church was deeply divided. They were not "One" in Christ. How could they be united if they dressed differently, ate differently, and adhered to a variety of different customs and traditions? And when one cultural "team" did not think the other "teams" were worthy of being a part of God's family. Many modern Churches struggle with this ancient problem. It is said that in whatever sort of church a person responds to Christ, that is the sort of church that they think of as "the only true" expression of the church, even if that church was not really the best expression of the Church at all. In all honesty, we are always on a journey of becoming more like Christ. We are always letting go of things that hold us back, always straining forward to win the prize that is set before us. The "true" church is not about the music we use in worship, or about the chairs we sit on, or the furnishings that surround us, or the technology we incorporate. It is not about our "culture." It is about Christ alone. It is about hearing and accepting what God has done in Christ, about responding to Him in faith as we are directed, and about receiving His Spirit into our lives who transforms us. And it is about looking forward to that day when all of us will be gathered into His heavenly home. A lot of the stuff that we deem so important to "church identity" is not really that important. We may like a certain "brand" of church because we more closely identify with its expression. We like the way it is organized, we like the building, we like the programs, we like the friendliness, we like the style of music, we like the teaching, and so on. But what we like is not what makes us One. It is what God has done for us, and that we have come to accept all of His blessings. Unity based on anything less will not last. And so it is my prayer that as an expression of His church that we embrace the unity that He alone has established between us with all of its beautiful variety.