Ephesians 1-3

Review and Respond

This epistle is about God and his grace and what happens to people on whom that grace is lavished. This epistle is about Him and what He has done to span the chasm that our rebellion made between we the creatures and He the Creator.

Everything about your life will be addressed in this book. That is why it is called by one historian an ‘infinities and immensities’. There are simply some things that we will just not be able to comprehend and grapple not matter how hard we try.

Message One: We, who believe, are not who we once were.

Along with Paul and the Ephesians, we have been given a new identity and new calling.

Along with Paul and the Ephesians we have been given grace and peace.

In this message we talked about how Saul became Paul.

The one who once sought out permission from the authorities to kill Christians has been given authority, by the one he once persecuted, to go make disciples!

Paul was not who he once was…and not only that but the Ephesians were not who they once were either. And that is the Fundamental Fact that is held out before us in this epistle.

By an act of God’s sovereign will and through His sheer grace...

We, who believe, are not who we once were.

In the first two verses of this letter Jesus is mentioned three times and God the Father is mentioned twice. In two verses, two members of the Godhead are referenced 5 times and we are mentioned once. Do that math. One outweighs the other. This book is about what our God has done, is doing and will do for His beloved children. In the first two verses, our God is appointing, willing, representing, dispensing his grace AND peace. Wow. This is our God. This book is about God…to the praise of His glory.

Message Two: Whenever we learn something true about God, it should lead us down the pathway of praise.

The Ephesians and you and I are blessed “IN CHRIST.”

That means a whole bunch of things and we will only scratched the surface, but essentially what that means is we are so identified with Christ, we are so unionized or one with Him that when God the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus His Son. This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. There is a blessing for ya.

We are “one.” We are connected. In fact, not only are we united to Him, but it is a double union, He is united to us. We are “in Christ,” but Christ is also, “in us.” Paul calls this later on in the book, “the hope of glory.”

We are so connected to Christ that we have received all the benefits that He has attained so far and will attain in the future when His Kingdom comes and HIs will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

What is true of Christ is true of us…his resources become our experience.

We demonstrated this union when we looked at the account of the stoning of Stephen in the book of Acts.

Think about the encounter with Stephen in the book of Acts. In Acts 7 Stephen is being killed by stoning. (BY STONING)…let that sink in…and those who were doing it were laying their cloaks at the feet of Saul. Saul was approving this…probably overseeing it. Acts 9…Saul is confronted by the Risen Christ with these words,

Acts 9:4 ESV

4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Stephen, the follower of Jesus was so identified with Jesus, and Jesus was so identified with him, that when Stephen was being stoned by a mob at the approval of Saul and Saul is confronted by Jesus…Jesus says, “why are you persecuting me?” S

aul could have argued…I am not persecuting you…I gave approval to kill Stephen! But Jesus is makes himself the recipient of death blows given to Stephen. You are persecuting me.

This is breathtaking!

Being “in Christ” means that all Christ has is mine.

Message 3, 4 and 5 were all part of a long run on sentence in Greek and in that sentence we see that all three members of the Godhead are to be praised for their various rolls in our salvation.

Message Three: God the Father chose us to be holy and blameless, adopted us and blessed us in Christ. God the Father is to be praised.

Message Four: God the Son redeemed us by his blood, forgave our trespasses, and has become the Head of the Body of Christ. Jesus is to be praised.

Message Five: God the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a seal for the ultimate day our our redemption. The Holy Spirit is to be praised.

The Holy Spirit in our live is a a sign of authenticity. (Christ dwells in our hearts through faith 3:17)…His presence in our lives is a guarantee of our future inheritance.

To the praise of His glory.

Message Six: Paul’s Prayer

An attempt was made to get into the mind of the Apostle Paul and figure out why he might have prayed the way he prayed for the Ephesians. We covered a lot of background information about the the setting of the Epistle itself and we identified three main things that the Apostle wanted the Ephesians to experience:

1) He wanted them to know God…not about God, but God Himself,

2) He wanted them realize the hope that was associated in being in a right relationship with God and

3) He wanted them to understand the “immeasurable greatness of God’s power” that has been made available to us who believe.

This is a review of what was surfaced in the first 6 messages in Ephesians. Before we respond musically let’s all stand and corporately prayer the prayer of Paul found in 1:15-23.

Ephesians 1:15–16 ESV

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

Ephesians 1:17–18 ESV

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 1:19–20 ESV

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

Ephesians 1:21–22 ESV

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Ephesians 1:23 ESV

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Let’s Respond all that we have been shown.

Message Seven: You’re not what you think, you’re worse than you think.

Ephesians 2:1-3

This was the week no one felt good after coming to church! We likened Paul to the "bad cop" in the Good Cop/Bad Cop bit. The “Bad Cop” takes an aggressive, negative stance towards the subject, making blatant accusations, derogatory comments, threats. This sets the stage for the "good cop" to be sympathetic and supportive. All this done in an attempt to get the subject to admit their guilt.

In 2:1-3, Paul is a “bad cop” with a devastating 1-2 punch.

Dead in our trespasses and sins

Trespass - Verse 1 says, we have actively stepped over the line over and over again and have actively done what God has not wanted us to do…we have trespassed.

Sins - We have also…actively failed to do all that God required of us. We have missed the mark over and over again. And we have been passive in doing all that God has required of us. We have sinned.

So…in summary we have all misstepped and missed the mark. And not only have we misstepped and missed the mark, but we have done both many times. So before God we are rebels and failures.

Paul goes on to paint a horrid picture of humanity by saying that before we are saved by Christ we are enslaved to the devil, enslaved to our selves…the passions of our bodies and minds, and by nature children of wrath.

But God!!!

Message Eight: God’s not what you think, He is infinitely better than you think.

3 attributes -

God is merciful meaning - Mercy is to show undeserved kindness or concern for someone in serious need.

God is full of great love - and it’s not pent up it is overflowing and spilling out onto the landscape of our lives.

God is gracious meaning - Grace is showing compassion and kindness to someone by giving them a gift that they don’t deserve.

Grace most often in Scripture carries the idea of bestowing a gift upon someone else. The biggest example of this in the bible is found in the Gospel of John. (John 3:16).

Because of HIs mercy, love and grace He: 1) made us alive, 2) raised us up and 3) seated us in heaven.

He all this to Show off how great He is. That was the week we talked about the cosmic show and tell time. God saved us to show off the, “immeasurable riches of His grace.”

Message Nine: Better than Chip and Joanna

Humanity needs to be fixed up! God is in the renovation and flipping business.

Step One: Assessing the Problem (v. 11-12)

Step Two: The Plan and the Cost (v. 13)

Step Three: Demo Day (v. 14-15)

Step Four: Reconstruction (v. 15b-18)

σταυρός

Ephesians 2:16 ESV

16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

A BEAM WAS PUT IN PLACE! Literally speaking… a “CROSS BEAM” was put in place.

Step Five: The Big Reveal (v. 19-22)

Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This is hard to fathom, but God brags on us…the church. Essentially what He says is...

“Look at my church! Look at them! Look at my dwelling place. I dwell among them. And when they dwell in unity, I am making my appeal through them. I am winning people back to myself through them. I am building them up. I am the Head and the Cornerstone of these people. I am over them and I am beside them and underneath them are my everlasting arms.

Look at my church! Look at my blood bought bride!

Look at my Body! Look at my hands and my feet!

Let’s worship in song...

Message Ten: The Church: the original mystery machine.

The church is a faithful witness in a fallen world that will undergo fierce affliction…but we refuse to lose heart.

Ephesians 3:8–10 ESV

8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Message Eleven - Being Rooted and Grounded in Love

Pastor Danny

Covered the topics that are found in Paul’s second prayer for the Ephesians.

It is important to note that Paul prays for the Ephesians twice in three chapters.

If you do that math there are 66 verses in the three chapters. 15 of those verses are Paul’s actual prayer for those He is writing. That is 23%. So nearly a quarter of His theological instruction of the Ephesians was spent in prayer…primarily that they might grasp even a fraction of what He was trying to communicate.

One lesson we might learn from this is as often as we think of other people we should be enraptured by the thought of being able to pray for them. We should quick to prayer when other people come across our minds. This IS what it means to obey the commands to “pray at all times in the Spirit,” and to “pray without ceasing.”

With that in mind…let’s pray this prayer of Paul corporately before we respond to what we have reviewed.

Ephesians 3:14–15 ESV

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

Ephesians 3:16–17 ESV

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Ephesians 3:18–19 ESV

18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.