In Christ Alone

Today is a glorious day! Today we are witnessing people declare that Jesus Christ are their Lord and Savior. What they are doing is no small thing nor should it be treated or looked upon as some religious activity. No, water baptism is a symbolism of what Paul mentioned in Romans 6:8-11

Romans 6:8–11 CSB

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Water baptism symbolizes our sins being buried and dead and us being raised to a new live in Christ Jesus. That is what the church is all about; Proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and making disciples.

This morning, we are starting a new study in the book of Ephesians. This book is a letter that Paul wrote to a church in a port-city called Ephesus to encourage, convict, and equip the believers of the church. In my personal opinion, this is study is coming at the right time. Over the next 11 to 12 weeks we will read about the general truths of God’s redemptive work in Christ, the unity of the church among diverse people, and proper conduct in the church, the home, and the world.

Today we will take a look at how the church of Ephesus was founded and the impact Paul makes in the introduction to his letter. If you have your bible, please turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 and we are going to look at the first three verses.

Ephesians 1:1–3 CSB

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.

(Prayer)

The Ephesian Church

In the beginning of this letter, we are introduced to the apostle Paul. If you don’t know who Paul is or Paul’s testimony, I would encourage you to read the book of Acts, specifically chapters 7-9. In a brief overview, Paul (who was also named Saul) did not approve of the teaching of Jesus Christ, specifically that He had risen from the dead. Paul encouraged the execution of young man named Stephen and went on a rampage throwing other believers into prison and killing them (Acts 8-9). On his way to a town called Damascus, Paul came face to face with Jesus Christ. Paul’s interaction with the Lord is found in Acts 9:3-6

Acts 9:3–6 CSB

As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Paul is brought into Damascus, where he meets a man named Ananias, and Paul was baptized and started preaching the good news of Jesus Christ all across the Roman Empire. Paul went from being a missionary that killed Christians to being a missionary that proclaimed Christ was risen! What a glorious picture of God’s grace and mercy!

During Paul’s travels, he was lead to a port city called Ephesus. Turn with me to Acts 19 to get a glimpse of what happened;

Acts 19:1–10 CSB

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” “No,” they told him, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Into what then were you baptized?” he asked them. “Into John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy. Now there were about twelve men in all. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

We see that Paul came to this city of Ephesus, preached Jesus Christ, and taught the disciples for two years! Notice that it wasn’t easy. There were people in the Synagogues who hardened their hearts and slandered the Way. Let us not over look this because there tends to be this idea, especially here in the west, that being a disciple for Jesus Christ is supposed to be easy. I agree that the gospel message of Jesus Christ is simple, but being a disciple is not easy. Standing for truth is not easy because there are so many things of this world that will try to swayed you from the truth. However, as believers, our love for the truth of Jesus Christ must out way the lies of the world.

One of the lies that impacted the culture of Ephesus was the occult. Many in this town, both Gentiles and Jewish priests, believed in spells and magics. We might be tempted to just brush this off and think all of this hocus pocus stuff is all fun and some how we in the 21st century are more sophisticated then 1st century people. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun.” We see in many movies and T.V. shows that push the demonic world of the occult and there are some who profess Christ and blend the occult world with Christianity. This, ladies and gentlemen, does not end well. Look at Acts 19:11-20

Acts 19:11–20 CSB

God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, so that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem. And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.

The people in Ephesus, because of their cultural thinking, thought that the name of Jesus Christ could be used as a spell. The name of Jesus, is not a spell. The name of Jesus Christ is to never be used in vain and the Son of God to be held in high esteem like we read in these verses. We read that believers confessed their sin of the occult and burned their magic books. This so called “woke culture” today, that is cancelling specific books and in some places burning them, think they are awake and wise, but in reality, they are blind and utterly foolish. The only one who wakes us up to the truth is Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Like He did with Paul, Christ is the only on who can remove the scales from our eyes to see the truth.

So many scales were removed from the people in Ephesus, that a blacksmith started a riot because he was loosing business. Acts 19:21-27

Acts 19:21–27 CSB

After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.” After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way. For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen. When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods. Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”

For me personally, I get convicted by this and think “Am I thinking too small about what the Lord can do in our town?” God moved in such a powerful way, that those who repented and believed in Christ stopped purchasing idols. What if we had that impact here? What if all the psychic reading businesses in this area became a place where small group bible studies met? What if all the porn shops and strip clubs became businesses that promote healthy marriages instead of destroying them? What if abortion clinics became places that went from killing babies to a place to encourage and equip women to keep their babies and help them through the motherhood process?

After the riot and meeting with the leaders at the church in Ephesus, Paul heads to Jerusalem and is put in prison, where he wrote his letter.

Paul’s Letter

In his letter, Paul opens up by stating that his authority as an apostle comes from God and that he is writing to the faithful saints (or believers) of the church of Ephesus. One thing we need to recognize, while the letter was written to the church in Ephesus, it is written for us today. There are some manuscripts that omit “at Ephesus” because when people made copies, they made it general to their church. This should be encouraging to us because everything that is written in this letter can apply to us today.

As I mentioned earlier, the letter was written to teach general truths of God’s redemptive work in Christ, the unity of the church among diverse people, and proper conduct in the church, the home, and the world. That still applies today! People need to know the truth of Christ redemptive work! We as the church need to learn how to function in unity with our diverse backgrounds and we all need to recognize that there is a proper conduct how the church is to function in this world. Hebrews 13:8 says:

Hebrews 13:8 CSB

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then His Word remains the same as well.

Paul’s Prayer

As we continue on to verse two, we see that Paul prays for the church. Let’s re-read verse 2 in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:2 CSB

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Greek translation for grace here is “joy” and the Greek translation for peace is “rest”. So this sentence could be read “May joy and rest come from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.” If you have a bible, circle, highlight or underline the word “from”. Notice that Paul is emphasizing in his prayer that true joy and rest comes from the Lord Jesus. In our world today, many people are looking for joy and rest, but are falling short of finding it. Why? Because they are putting this joy and rest in the wrong places. Some look to the government, drugs, porn, luxurious items, power and authority. While these things may give temporary joy and rest, they never fill the emptiness. We thirst for more. But why would Paul pray this prayer?

For starters, Timothy, who is a church leader in Ephesus, is a young man. According to commentaries, Timothy was around 30 years of age when he lead this church. As a young leader, Timothy may be dealing with some backlash, doubt, and fears. He might be thinking, “Paul, I appreciate that you have chosen me to lead, but um how exactly am I suppose to do this?!”

A second reason for this prayer is because the church still has to battle against the spiritual darkness of the culture. Ephesus was under the Roman Empire, so they are dealing with that and the culture of the town where witchcraft is still present and people are still worshipping the idol god Artemis.

In this battle, the people might be thinking, “Are we even making any progress?!” “Is all of our teaching and preaching in vain?!” Paul in this prayer is encouraging them to rest and find joy that God is working!

A final reason for this prayer is that the church is not only fighting spiritual darkness in the world, but spiritual darkness that is trying to invade the church. Right before Paul left Asia-minor, he had a meeting with the leaders from Ephesus and in Acts 20 Paul said the following;

Acts 20:25–31 CSB

“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again. Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

A few months ago, I had a conversation with a member of my family. We were talking about different things going on in the world, and by the grace of God, I was able to bring scripture into our conversation, and he bluntly asked me “Mike, doesn’t the church condone sexual sins like homosexuality, sex before marriage, adultery, etc. ?” I responded “Yes.” He went on to ask “Then why are all of these churches starting to state that all of these things are no longer sin?” I bluntly responded “Because they aren’t the church.”

Sure they have the word “church” and use the name of Jesus Christ, but they are far from Christ. I would even go as far to say they are Christ-less. Instead of being lead by the Holy Spirit, they are being lead by wolves in sheep clothes and these wolves are leading people on a path to hell. Fighting off these wolves, whether in-house, or wolves that are devouring people in other locations is a difficult battle, and Paul is saying in his prayer “find joy and rest in the Lord because while these wolves may look like they are winning, Christ Jesus has the ultimate victory.”

Let me make it very clear, it is by God’s grace that you have leaders and teachers here at Morning Star Fellowship who love Jesus Christ and the truth of His Word. I promise you this, for however long God has Pastor John, Pastor Ryan, Pastor Jonathan, Myself, and any other teachers in this pulpit, we will preach Christ crucified. We will not cave to this world and we will not compromise His word, no matter the cost.

Spiritual Blessings

The final thing we will look at today are the spiritual blessings Paul mentions in verse 3. While Jonathan will go more in depth next week on the spiritual blessings, I want to list them out for you.

Spiritual Blessings:

Adoption (Ephesians 1:5)

Redemption and Forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7-8)

The Mystery of God’s Will is Known (Ephesians 1:9-10)

An Inheritance (Ephesians 1:11-12)

The Promise of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14)

I want to close regarding the promise of the Holy Spirit. Let me read what Ephesians 1:13-14 says;

Ephesians 1:13–14 CSB

In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

I want to read to you what one commentary wrote regarding the Promise of the Holy Spirit.

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 1

The Holy Spirit was promised by the prophets and by Jesus (Jl 2:28–29; Jn 14:15–26; 16:5–16). The Spirit is described as both a seal showing ownership and a pledge pointing to future redemption. Though believers have not yet experienced redemption in full, God will bring about final redemption (life in his immediate presence) for all who have received the Spirit (Eph 1:14).

How can one receive this seal? By hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believe.

This morning, I’ve shared with you the word of the truth. We as the church cannot be the church without Jesus Christ. From Paul’s conversion all the way to his missionary work in Ephesus, the Lord Jesus Christ is whom all glory and honor should be given to.

Just in the first three sentences, Paul mentions the name of Jesus Christ FIVE TIMES! This should be a clue to us! Paul is saying that his role as an apostle, true grace, true peace, and all spiritual blessings come from Christ and Christ alone!

You may be wondering, what is the gospel of salvation? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created all things perfect, including man. However, instead of obeying God, man disobeyed, and the curse of sin has plagued us and all things of this world. We are destined to be eternally separated from God in hell because of sinful nature. BUT GOD! Knowing that His creation is destined for eternal separation, Jesus Christ came down from His throne, lived a life that we should be living and died a death we should die. Jesus Christ took on the sins of the entire world and faced the wrath of God. He was the perfect and final sacrifice for the atonement of our sins. He was buried and three days later Jesus Christ conquered death by being raised from the dead appearing to His disciples, ascended into heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and is coming back again to restore all things! Every knee and tongue will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Those who believe in the works of Jesus Christ will be saved and have eternal life!

Before Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the grave, Jesus said the following to Lazarus’ sister;

John 11:25–26 CSB

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

My question to you this morning, Do you believe in the works Jesus Christ?

(Pray)