Praise God for his Spiritual Blessings
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I. For Whom: The Faithful Saints
I. For Whom: The Faithful Saints
Ephesus the city
Location of the city (Map)
Culture (Image of Temple of Diana)
Center of a great pagan temple to Diana (Artemis) - The Temple of Diana was one of the seven wonders of the world. It took 220 years to build. It was made of marble, and the building was a third larger than a football field, supported by 127 columns of marble 56 feet high and full of lavish treasure. It was also a house of prostitution in the name of worship. A craft of making little copies of Diana in silver had grown up. The temple was destroyed in AD 262 by the Goths. (New Manners and Customs, 530-31; Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 622)
Large Jewish community
Many practitioners of magic and sorcery
The book of Ephesians is oddly impersonal for a book written to Paul’s most established ministry. A few manuscripts lack the name “Ephesus.” This isn’t because the letter was written to any other church, but because it was designed from the beginning as a circular letter that the Ephesians could distribute to other places in Asia Minor. So the letter is addressed not just to the Ephesians, but also to the saints and faithful in other places. Also, the letter was carried by Tychicus, who was planning to tell them all the personal stuff directly (Eph 6:21-22)
But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you;
whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts.
The Ephesians are saints because God chose them Eph 1:4, despite once living a pagan lifestyle Eph 2:3. An example of this in Ephesus Acts 19:17-20
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.
Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
Clear teaching of Scripture is that a Saint is any Christian. Holiness means to be “Set apart for special use,” And God is the one who makes a saint due to their faith in Jesus Christ to forgive them of their sins.
Romanist idea of “Saints” is a corruption of an unrelated, formerly good idea
Paul himself exhorts us to respect those who risked their lives for the Lord Jesus Phil 2:29-30, but this is a long way from the Romanist practice.
Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem;
because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.
The early church made a big point of giving every Christian a proper burial, especially the martyrs.
Once Christianity gained religious tolerance and then religious enforcement, she no longer needed to worry about persecution, therefore, people were free to build much more elaborate tombs.
But also at that time, when a world leader - like Roman Emperor Constantine, or the leaders of the Barbarian tribes - converted to Christianity, he would then declare that his whole people were now Christians. Paganism was always tied to an entire people group as a whole. You worshipped the ancestral gods of your people, just because you belonged to that people group. So when the leader of that people converted, he assumed that Christianity worked the same way and so now the whole people must be Christian.
But the majority of the population were really just pagans. They hadn’t changed their mind about Christ and repented of their sins, they just went along to get along. Now they couldn’t have idols in their house or build idols, but they still wanted to pray to something physical. So what do we have here? A tomb to a martyr? A holy man venerated for his piety? perhaps if I go there and pray to God, some of their holiness will rub off on me? And before you knew it, they were praying to the saints themselves, they were going on pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints and the martyrs.
But now that the worship of the saints was an accepted practice, the church felt the pressure to have some system to recognize these holy people, which is where the practice of canonization comes from. It’s a system to recognize those Catholics that are OK to pray to.
The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, even today, is that the saint’s aren’t gods and aren’t worshipped. Rather, they are appealed to because their holiness allows them an “in” with God that ordinary people don’t have.
But this has clearly become indistinguishable from idolatry. What’s the difference between building a pagan temple to Diana for people to come and pray to her for deliverance and help and building a holy site for people to come and pray to some man or woman for the exact same kind of deliverance and help?
Paul also writes to the “faithful.” This isn’t a different class of people, but an addition characteristic of the saints. That is, Christians have been set apart by God - that’s their vertical orientation. But they are also faithfully living the Christian life. That’s their horizontal orientation. You can’t earn salvation by your works, but your works will demonstrate if the faith you claim to have is real.
II. For What: Spiritual Blessings
II. For What: Spiritual Blessings
God’s blessing implies happiness, success, or prosperity Ps 5:12; 65:11; Hag 2:19; Deut 28:1-7
What are blessings Rom 15:29; Gal 3:14; Heb 6:7; 12:17; 1 Pet 3:9
What are Spiritual blessings?
There is no doubt that these blessings are imparted by the spirit
But they are also “in the heavenly places” Eph 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12
This means that Paul isn’t taking about material blessings, but immaterial ones.
III. To Whom: God is worthy of praise
III. To Whom: God is worthy of praise
God can be praised for his care Ps 68:19, 35; 72:18; 144:1
Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah
O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places. The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God!
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things!
Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle—
God should be praise for his provision Ruth 4:14; 1 Kings 1:48; 5:7; 8:56
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!
Also the king said thus, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, while my eyes see it!’ ”
So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the Lord this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!
“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.
God should be praised for his response to prayer Gen 24:27; 1 Kings 8:15; Ps 28:6; 66:20
And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”
And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David, and with His hand has fulfilled it, saying,
Blessed be the Lord, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!
God should be praised for his deliverance
from enemies Gen 14:20; Exod 18:10; 2 Sam 18:28; Ps 41:13; 124:6
And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
And Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
So Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “All is well!” Then he bowed down with his face to the earth before the king, and said, “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king!”
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.
Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
from evil 1 Sam 25:32, 39
Then David said to Abigail: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
So when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept His servant from evil! For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal on his own head.” And David sent and proposed to Abigail, to take her as his wife.
God should be praised for who he is Ps 72:19; 89:52; 106:48; 135:21
And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.
Blessed be the Lord forevermore! Amen and Amen.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!
Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, Who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!