Ephesians | Chapter 1

Ephesians Outline

“Things prepared for the person in the purpose of God”

 

I. Introduction: 1:1-14

1. 1-2 Greetings in grace
2. 3-14 Praise for our inheritance
3. 3-6 Planned by the Father
4. 7-12 Paid for by the Son
5. 13-14 Protected by the Spirit

 

II. Statement of Purpose: 1:15-23

“Praying for progression in the things prepared for the person in Jesus”

 

III. Main Teaching: Chapters 2:1 – 6:20

1. Things Prepared:
2. Chapter 2 Our Position
3. Chapter 3 Our Power
4. For the Person:
5. Chapter 4 A Walk Worthy
6. Chapter 5:1-7 A Walk in Love
7. Chapter 5:8-17 A Walk in Light
8. Chapter 5:18-21 A Walk in Power
9. Chapter 5:22 – 6:9 A Walk in Wisdom

C.   In the Purpose of God: 6:10-20

• 6:10-12 Warfare
• 6:13-17 Weapons
• 6:18-20 Watchfulness
• Conclusion: 6:21-24

 

 

 

Ephesians 1:1-3

“Every spiritual blessing in heavenly places”

 

• I. Introduction
• II. Vs. 1-2 Greetings in grace
• III. Vs. 3 Show them what they have one

 

Introduction

Growing up in the age of T.V. I can still remember watching people dressed up in goofy costumes vying for the opportunity to participate in the game show called “Lets make a Deal”. The object of the game was to force a decision between something the contestant already had won, to something they did not know what it was, It could be better, or it could be a bad joke and they lose what they had initially won. Inevitably you would hear the words of the host Monty Hall telling them to pull back the curtains and “show them what they have one!” Yet even after they had won he would try to get them to give it up for something else. Their frustration was that they never knew what they had given up until after it was too late, even though it looked like a good trade. Monte would show that there was something still hidden behind the door or curtain they had just given up. Looking at this letter I’m stricken with the similarity between that game show and our own Christian experience. You see we Christians seem to fall into two very disappointing categories:

1. Those who have no idea what they have won in Christ Jesus.
2. Those who have been persuaded to let go what they have won for something of far lessor value.

It is to this that Paul writes this letter reminding the reader first of what they have won and secondly to persuade them never to trade it for anything else!

Vs. 1-2 Greetings in grace

Vs. 1a Like all letters in the New Testament they follow a specific pattern, and this letter is no different. The first few sentences the writer identifies himself and usually we skip right over this part and on to the rest of the letter. I’d like to suggest that you don’t do this, as there is much meat in the introduction. In fact there are three specific things Paul reveals about himself in this verse.

1. First of all we are given the writers name, “Paul” but that had not always been his name. In Acts 7:58 we are told that his name had been Saul and he was from the area of Tarsus which is right near the border of Iraq and Turkey. He became a Rabbi and studied under Gamaliel who was one of the best-known teachers of Judaism at that time. He became a leader in the anti-christian movement in Jerusalem and was in the midst of this activity persecuting and arresting Christians when he himself became arrested by the presence of the Lord. So, Paul was not a sympathetic follower of Jesus, no, he was a pathetic persecutor and worse yet, he was not some uneducated fellow, he was a man who was well schooled. So what could cause such a change, what information could elicit such a transformation? Well, Saul had an encounter with the risen Lord that changed him from a man full of himself to a “little man”. A man who refused to list his pedigree, his accomplishments and rather just state his name. Paul sums up his life before and after in his words to the Philippians in chapter 3:4-7 saying, “though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.”
2. Secondly, he calls himself an “apostle of Jesus Christ”. Whatever he was had been lost and now there was no greater thing in his mind than what he wrote here. But why was it so great? Well, we get insight into this from his words to the Corinthians in 15:9 where he wrote them saying, “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am”. The marvel of it all to Paul was that God had chosen him at all and more than that, to be sent out as a representative of the risen Lord. As he wrote those words “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ” he must have felt as I do when I say my name next to the words “servant of Jesus Christ”. There is a sense of mystery and awe at God’s ability to take the worthless and ruined life and turn it into His work of art!Furthermore, this transformation was not owed to superior training but rather that he, as said of Peter and John in Acts 4:13, that “they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
3. Finally, there is one other thing Paul draws our attention to in this statement about himself and it has to do with his “vocation or calling” and how he had come to do what he was doing. What he was, what he had become was by the “will of God”! The great question in life as to our vocation is not what we are doing but rather is what we are doing “by the will of God”? We ought to be able to take out the words “Paul and apostle” and fill them with our name and vocation and be able to complete the sentence as it relates to ourselves. Oh how we struggle with this, do we not?

Vs. 1b Here we are also told to whom this letter was being addressed and Paul reveals three things that Christians are in this verse. There is some dispute as to the destination of this letter as the word Ephesus does not appear in some of the older manuscripts. The reason for this looking at the rest of the letter is probably because this was a circular letter first sent to the Ephesians and then re-read in the other churches in the area. Ephesus was the capital of Asia and as such it was the political and commercial center of the region and a place where Paul had spent around three years in a very successful ministry. Yet with that said it had been around 10 years since he had last seen these believers and he was writing them from house arrest in Rome awaiting his trial.

Three things that every Christian is:

1. To the saints: It is unfortunate that this word “saint” has been so mis-defined. In fact of you look up the word in Webster’s dictionary you will find their definition as “one officially recognized especially through canonization as preeminent for holiness”. The problem with this definition is that those that wrote it apparently never read the New Testament because Paul did not write to dead people but rather those that were living! They were people just like us who had struggles and difficulties at work and at home. Simple put they were “not especially recognized” for being holier than everybody else based upon some group of people seeing if they had performed two miracles and after their death if someone had prayed to them for a cure and became whole. The word appears nine times in this letter alone and it literally means “set apart”. Allow me to use a more modern word, “To the DIFFERENT ones who are Ephesus”. That is the basic idea of the word. These folks had been recreated “different” then the rest of the people in Ephesus. How interesting is that when it seems to me so many in the Church is trying to be like the world? These believers were IN the world, but they were no longer OF the world they were behaving differently then they once were. It is not that they didn’t face the same problems they once did only that they approached those problems differently. Their lifestyle had changed as did their approach to life.
2. Faithful: The 2^nd characteristic is that they were those who had exercised their trust but in a whole new place in “Christ Jesus”. Much is made on the word faith but the truth is every person has faith, the only difference is what our faith is in. Most folks have their trust in themselves where these Christians had their trust in Jesus. They were not saved because they had lived faithful lives; no they were faithful because they had trusted Jesus instead of themselves. Now the word “faithful” reminds us of not being quitters, these Christians just couldn’t stop trusting Jesus, I mean they were addicted to following Him in every area of their lives. This by the way is why we Christians are so different from the rest of the world and how we ourselves once behaved; we just can’t help ourselves!
3. In Christ Jesus: “In Christ”, “In Him” appear 18 times in this letter and 9 of those are found in verse 1:3-23 alone. The phrase means more then just trusting Jesus it means being “joined” with him into one body so as what is true of Him is true of us positionally! Whatever these “different faithful followers” were, was not based upon their own accomplishments or inward character, no it was because of Jesus. Paul put it this way in Philippians 3:9 “being found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith”.

So we are:

• Different
• Faithful
• Joined

But what has done this? How did we attain such transformation? Well the next verse though a greeting tells us.

Verse 2 There are two great gifts given each believer causes us to become “different, faithful and joined” to Christ.

1. Grace to you: The word describes God’s great kindness towards those that are by nature undeserving of His favor. Here is what is great is that His favor is not just given to us when we first trusted in Him and then we have none. No, it’s continually available to us. Practically speaking “all of His love, power, truth” all of Him is given to us and it will never run out, all we have to do is apply Him to our lives.
2. And peace: Because of the above fact then we also have peace with God, and the peace of God. But what is peace? Well, peace is freedom from everything that would cause us worry, fear, or anxiety. Oh, not that we will not face things that may cause us these things, but here we have the antidote to all that will trouble us. We have a basis of security and trust outside ourselves and the situations we find ourselves in that can not be broken. Rom. 8:39 declares “nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus”. Try as it might, run as we may, we have peace whenever and wherever we trust Him.

Yes, but how can we be so certain of them and mean what if we just so blow it or things become so great as to dislodge us from grace and peace? Well, I suppose that would be a problem if they came from us, but look carefully at where they are found, “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

            Hear me out on this, as we are not just exposing useless information. We are plumbers here not politicians as we are learning how to fix the leaks in our lives not just spend money and time talking about doing so. What could we possible do that would ever take away His love for us being that He did for us while we were yet sinners? And what circumstance could be larger than the creator? So, our anxiety, worry and fear has found a permanent death in the arms of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Vs. 3 Show them what they have one

Vs. 3 There are four powerful truths in this verse that you need to notice:

1. Who it is that is behind all these blessings? The word blessing is the word we get our word “eulogy” from and means a declaration of goodness. Where does such a declaration of goodness come from? Well Paul tells us from, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. What this reveals to us is that these blessings are in no way brought about by the activity of men. It is God alone who does all of this. There is no demand or conditions placed upon these blessings only the direction for obtaining them “in Christ”! The emphasis here is not on what He gives, as much as it is on that He has given all of Himself!
2. When it is we will get these blessings? Look at those words “has blessed us” and what does it tell you? Well it suggests to you that these are not some sort of points you obtain as you do better. No, the truth is this is not some future promise rather it is a reminder that He has already given you all of Himself and you have had Him all along! You mean that I had all blessings found in my relationship the moment I first received His love? Yes! Folks the progression of our spiritual lives comes by way of our understanding this truth. What we have forgotten in our misplaced zeal is that that only activity that will change us or anyone else is that which God has done and not what we will do! Everything in our lives in Christ is about what He has done for me not about what I’ll do for Him!
3. How much of them will we receive?: Well Paul says, “every spiritual blessing”. Not most, some, all but a few, but every! God’s aim as seen in the three times repeated word blessing is to bring every spiritual blessing your way! These blessings are spiritual in nature and not material, “Oh I knew there was a catch!” On the contrary, the material is passing the spiritual is that which last forever. Do not think that the use of the word spiritual limits the extent as it only refers to the source as His blessings are designed to bring about His goodness in every area of our lives. There will be times in this life that we may not appreciate His blessings nor understand how what we have gone through will be a blessing but one day we will marvel at how in “all things He work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
4. How do we obtain them?: Here we are told that they are “in heavenly places in Christ”. Here we see that we can only obtain them “in Christ” which is not a problem seeing that we are “in Christ”. Also we see that these blessings are in heavenly places which does not speak as being “out of reach” but rather not bound by earthly limits. Five times in the first three chapters Paul mentions our riches in Christ how glorious is it that we can come to our spiritual bank any time and withdraw more of His without fear of theft! There is an invisible reality of our life that Paul writes to the Colossians saying that “our life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) Simply put we can tap into these blessing any time we want no matter what the circumstance or need.

 

Ephesians 1:3-6

“Chosen, adopted and accepted by the Father”

 

• Introduction
• Vs. 3-4 The road beyond the fall
• Vs. 5-6 The wealthy beggar

Introduction

The story is told of an old Indian who had a small piece of land where he had a little flock of sheep, which barely brought him enough income to survive. One day all of that changed as an oil company doing test drilling discovered on his land vast resources of oil. Contracts were signed; wells were dug, and enormous amounts of money were deposited in his name in the local bank. In the matter of a few months he was the one of the wealthiest men in all of Texas, yet as far as anyone could tell he never once changed how he had lived his whole life. He still maintained his little flock of sheep that would barely supply his necessities. Every so often he would walk to town and go into the bank and stand before the bank manager and say the same thing, “Grass all dead, water holes all dry, sheep all sick!” Every time this would happen the bank manger would do the same thing; he would just bring the old Indian into the bank vault and show him all the money and say, “This is all yours!” The old fellow would just stand in that fault take a deep breath count some of the money, smell it and after a while walk out of the vault and go over to the bank manager and say, “Grass all green, water holes all full, sheep all well!” Brothers and sisters, we are in the vault right now!

Vs. 3-4 The road beyond the fall

 We start the longest sentence in the entire book, as from verse 3-14 is all one sentence. Through out these 12 verses the words that directly relate to our position in Christ appear over 27 times, as well as some of the major doctrinal truths of the Christian faith. But Paul did not write this long sentence to bore us with theology, no quite the opposite. In the 3^rdverse Paul had started to share with the Ephesian believers concerning the “goodness” that God has graced us with for simply being in Christ. Then as you look at the start of the 4^th verse you see the little phrase, “just as” which suggests that Paul’s mind went to examples of the “goodness of His grace” towards those in Christ. The division of these 12 verses flows nicely as Paul comes up for air three times in praise:

• 3-6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace”: In these four verses we see that Paul is amazed by the plan of the Father, as it relates to the “goodness of His grace”.
• 7-12 “to the praise of His glory”: In these six verses Paul is overwhelmed by the payment made by the Son for the “goodness of His grace”.
• 13-14 “to the praise of His glory”: Finally in the last two verses Paul praises the protection of the Spirit as it relates to the “goodness of His grace” towards us.

Do you see what has happened in these verses? It is simple; Paul got carried away as he began to think of the riches that had been given all those in Christ. We are taking a walk-through Fort Knox and what is amazing is that the gold is not someone else’s it’s all ours in Christ!

            There are three things that blew Paul’s mind as it related to the “goodness of God’s grace” in the plan of the Father, and they are some heavy theological terms:

1. 4 Election: “He chose us in Him”! We will look at His choosing of us and handle the truth of our election.
2. 5 Adoption: “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself”! It is always amazing to me how folks get all bent up on the word “predestined” and completely miss what we have been predestined to which is adoption as sons and daughters! So, we shall look at the plan of the Father as it relates to our adoption and yes, we will ponder that adoption by means of predestination.
3. 6 Acceptance: “He has made us accepted in the Beloved”! Finally Paul was moved to praise as he realized what the final outcome of God’s plan was, namely our acceptance in the beloved.

Allow me to set up certain guidelines as it relates to these truths of our inheritance:

1. This ought to be self evident, but none of these have to do with any person who is not “In Christ”, no person who has not been “born again” can lay claim to any of these riches.
2. As Christians these truths are factual whether we feel they are or not. So, as natural laws are they operate not on how we feel but rather impersonal as they just are. The natural law of gravity does not care whether you feel there is such a thing or even if you are in the mood for gravity.

Vs. 4 “He chose us”: Here we have what is commonly called “election” Here is what we see concerning our election:

1. He: That is the choice was God the Father’s. Jesus spoke these same words to His disciple’s in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you”. Concerning our love for the Lord we are told in 1^st John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.” Simply put God the Father is the initiator, furthermore, the tense of the verb “chose” in the Greek indicates that it was a choice He made by himself and for Himself! We are told that in that thrice repeated phrase “to the praise of His glory” in verse 6 that the choice was predicated on His glory even above His choice being beneficial to us! So how does this truth effect me? Well since it was His choice, and He is perfect and cannot make a mistake, then means you are not a mistake! Now it would be a whole other matter if the choice was mine and He was forced to take me. Think throughout time of the myriads of people that have walked on this planet and realize that He chose you, makes you feel pretty special does it not?
2. Chose: Here is where we get a little disturbed concerning our election being His choice and our free will. It is two parallel truths that are impossible to reconcile for us. Here is what we know concerning His choice and our choice:
3. John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”. As stated above God is the initiator!
4. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” The fact that sin entered through our failure has not altered God’s desire for fellowship with us, in fact He still offers an invitation for ALL and indeed draws us to saving trust.
5. 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you”. Yes, the invitation is made to all but because of the fall people must respond to the invitation. Well how do I know if I’ve been invited to “come to the party”! “But I don’t think I want to come to the party, well then I guess you weren’t invited.” D.L. Moody handled election and free will by saying, “The Whosoever wills are the elect, and the whosoever wont’s are the non elect!” The problem with election is not election rather it is our depravity in light of His choice. How far did we fall? Did we slide up or did we slide just a little down or was it all the way into the pit? Well, the Bible answers that by telling us that we were “were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) and that there was “There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable”. (Rom. 3:11-12) Simply put His choice was purely His not based upon looking down the road seeing someone better or with more potential because we were hopelessly and helplessly lost. One old brother from the South was once asked concerning His position on election and man’s free will and said, “Well you see it’s this way, the Lord done voted for my salvation; and the devil he done voted for my damnation and I done decided to vote the Lord’s way and we got the majority!”
6. In Him: This describes for us HOW that the choice was made. There are two amazing things about “HOW” this choice was made:
7. First, we ought to be amazed at the truth that we have always been the sole objects of His love and grace. Yet because of our sin His choice could not be based upon our merit. So how can you choose someone who is absolutely completely undeserving?
8. Well, you make the choice by not looking at man in what he is by himself but rather based upon what he is IN Christ. Thus, the truth that Jesus was willing to have us identified with Him is most amazing and He did so by first becoming identified with us!
9. “Before the foundation of the world: This has to do with the timing as it relates to His choice and amazingly it was before time began. There was no world or people that would inhabit it. In other words God’s choice was before we have done anything or have been anything for God. Spurgeon once jokingly said, “God certainly must have chosen me before I came into this world because He would have never have done so afterward!” We are not afterthoughts as it relates to His choosing, no we were fore thoughts and as such that means He has not made a mistake and you and I are no mere 2^nd class citizens. In Revelation 17:8 we are told that names were “written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world”. I can’t wait to get to heaven and look up my name there in that book of life. What began before time was fulfilled in His time and will continue through out time!
10. “That we should be holy and without blame before Him”: Here we are given the purpose of God’s choice to make us “holy and blameless”. So how many here are holy and blameless this morning? So what’s the matter with the rest of you? These are very hard for us to receive as we tend to look at these two things practically don’t we? But wait, God’s choice and view of us is totally In Christ and as such we are in view “before Him”. So we are not talking about practical appearance but rather positional appearance. So right now, the Father sees you Holy and Blameless in Jesus! But what does that mean?
11. Holy: The idea here again is “difference” but as you look throughout all the Bible the word has the idea of “wholeness” so we could say that our difference is our “wholeness”. Wholeness by definition means to be restored to one’s original function and although we do not always function properly, we all have the capacity in Christ to do so!
12. Blameless: This is a word that means without spot or blemish and is the same word used to describe Jesus as the Lamb of God. As it should as we are given His spotless nature positionally! So, God the Father has declared us as whole and without spot as His Son because we are in His Son!

There is one last word that I deliberately left out in this verse, and it is the word “us”! Don’t past by it too quickly as all that we have looked at this morning deal with each believer personally God the Father has graced US with His goodness in choosing US personally! Go back and read this choice as the “love story” that it is and realize that it makes all the sense in the world for us to choose Him, in fact it is absurd for us not to (yet there are more that don’t then do), but here we see that He chose us! Movies are made all the time where some “great looking guy or gal” chooses the average “Joe or Jane”. In fact they even made a reality TV show based upon this premise. But we see here that God has chosen you and I in Christ, man is it ever true that history is stranger than fiction!

So there you have it your election is seen in God choosing you, oh how precious He sees us, my prayer is that you will recognize this as well as I believe that the key to our behavior is always to be found in our appropriating His riches to our lives!

 

 

 

Ephesians 1:3-6

“Chosen, adopted and accepted by the Father (part b)”

 

• I. Introduction
• Vs. 5-6 The wealthy beggar

Introduction

There are three things that blew Paul’s mind as it related to the “goodness of God’s grace” in the plan of the Father and we have already looked at the first one our election by the Father:

We saw five things concerning God’s choice:

The choice was all God the Father’s: He is the initiator, which means you are not a mistake.

His choice His way: Not based upon looking down the road and seeing someone better or with more potential because we were all hopelessly and helplessly lost.

The choice not based upon merit: Jesus first chose to be identified with sinful man, thus the choice could not be based upon our merit.

The choice made before time: What began before time was fulfilled in His time and will continue throughout time!

The purpose of His choice was our transformation: Positionally God chooses to see us in His Son as whole and without sin.Now this week we take up the last two things that blew Paul’s mind as it related to the plan of the Father concerning the “goodness of His grace” towards us. When we move to “Adoption” we realize that that God is into people and that He has a “purpose” for them. Finally as we look at our “Acceptance” we realize that His plan for people has a final outcome. 

 

Vs. 5-6 The wealthy beggar

Vs. 5  I often wonder how those who divided the books of the Bible determined just where to place the number sequences. For instance why does verse four read, “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (comma) and not verse 5 read (after the comma), “in love having predestined us to adoption”? There are several reasons why I think this would be a better fit:

1. First the placing of the words “in love” at the end of Paul’s thought dealing with God’s choosing of us is not based upon grammar but rather theology. It seems that some struggled more with the timing of God’s choosing (before the foundations of the world) then they did with God’s “pre-destination”, hence the placing of the words “in love” to soften the timing.
2. Second it seems to me that if we are going to base the placing of a comma on theology and not grammar then we will have far less trouble with God’s “pre-destination” when we start with the fact that it was done so “in love”! Not to mention, “grammatically speaking,” it makes more sense as we are speaking more on the “purpose” of His pre-destination (adoptions as sons) then we are the act it’s self. As such “in love” goes much more with “adoptions as sons” then it does the timing of His choice!

To me I have far less problem with God’s timing in choosing than I do with what I perceive the arbitrary nature of it. So when I start out with the truth that His choice was fastened upon His love I realize that His choice was not on a haphazard whim. Simply put His pre-destination is a manifestation of His love which is seen in the goal of this choice namely, our “adoption as His children”!

Now onto the word “predestined” itself, as it appears only five times in the New Testament and is a compound word made up of two words, “to define or decide” and “beforehand”! So Paul is saying that in His love God had a “destination beforehand” for believers, which was “adoption as sons”.  There are four points that need to be understood when it comes to this word:

1. Four out of the five times this word is used it refers to believers and the only other time the word appears is in Acts 4 where Luke uses it so that the readers will understand that those who were involved in Jesus’ trial and crucifixion did so as God pre-determined that they would! So what’s my point? Only that God’s “destination beforehand” has to do with saved people and nowhere in God’s word do we see unsaved people’s destination beforehand being hell!
2. Furthermore, the believer’s “destination beforehand” is not to heaven rather it is the adoption as sons. God is not as concerned with placing us in the ideal spot as He is placing us in an ideal relationship!
3. Ah, but to confuse us further we are told biblically that we do not come into a relationship with God through “adoption” but rather through “regeneration” by being “born again”! That is exactly John’s point in his gospel 1:12-13 as he writes “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” You will notice that there is only one way that you can enter into a relationship with God and it is by: “Receiving Him by trusting in His name which is through the will of God”! John clarifies this by stating three ways that you can not come into a relationship with God:
4. “not of blood”: It is not a birthright!
5. “or of the will of the flesh”: It is not by religious practice!
6. “nor of the will of man”: It is not by self-effort!
7. So just what does our adoption as sons do? Well, it has three aspects to it:
8. Past: In Roman law when a person was adopted he lost all rights to his old family as such all his debts and obligations from his previous family were abolished as he was now legally in a new family. In the eyes of the law, the person was a “new man”. Our adoption has moved us from the past failures and shame of our old family, “Adam” and has translated us into a new family, the family of the “Son of His love”. This explains a lot does it not? Have you ever noticed how much more tolerant you are of your own children’s mishaps? Why? Well because they are your kids! Ah, the Lord sees us as His kids and even though we continue to blow it, when we repent, He treats us as if we never have!
9. Present: Since we know that God’s destination beforehand does not refer to being born again then what does it mean? Well, the adoption has to do with our standing as His children in the family, which is as adults, and not children. You see a child can not enjoy their inheritance until they are adults so God in His grace imparts to us not only the right, as John said, to become children of God, but to enjoy the standing as full adults. But why would He do that? Listen up dear Christian, “So that we can enjoy the riches of our inheritance in Christ now!” In fact that is why Paul writes this letter as he states in verse 18 “that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe”. Everybody knows that a child would have to wait until they become an adult in order to enjoy their inheritance, but God does not want you to have to wait for it all! Don’t you just love that? God wants you and I to enjoy some of our riches in Christ right now, today! In fact, Paul prayed two prayers concerning this, the first one 1:15-23 was for “revelation” and the 2^nd one 3:14-21 was for “realization”!
10. Future: There is a yet future aspect to our adoption when we will be brought into the presence of God, given glorified bodies, and so on. This is not what Paul was speaking about here but we did look at it in the 15^th chapter of 1 Corinthians.

Having tackled the “big words” of “predestined” and “adoption” there are two other questions that need to be asked and answered as they relate to God in His love having a “destination beforehand” for believers and that is “adoption as sons”. I personally think that answering these questions is even more amazing:

1. Why did God do it? This is the fundamental question we all ask some time or other, why me? What was it about me that he would choose to do something so marvelous as make me His son? You see we have a “commercial mentality” when it comes to purchasing something. We want to declare value to justify the expense. So we look at God the Father’s plan and wonder, “What in me could motivate Him to spend so much for my benefit?” It is this question that most of our problems arise as it relates to our walk with Him. You see if we answer that question in the positive by thinking that we are just a little better than our neighbor, then we become smug and self-righteous. Yes, but if we answer it in the negative then we become works-oriented and try to continue to win what God has already given by grace and can never be obtained by works! So what then is the answer? Well, it is right here before you. There are three elements to the answer and only one of them has anything to do with you and even that one all we do is receive!
2. “In love having predestined us to adoption as sons”: He gave His love! God makes us more than mere citizens of His Kingdom, more than just His servants, and even more than His friends. Why He imparts His nature upon us and makes us His children. In fact, Paul wrote in Romans 8:15-17 that we “received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”.
3. “According to the good pleasure of His will”: To the good pleasure of His will! It was not only His choice but also His pleasure to do so as the phrase reveals the “purpose” of His choice, which is stated as solely being His delight! We had no control over Him in this, there was no good reason in us for the choice. Ah, but the “good reason” is because He alone is “Good” and He delights in showing His creation His “goodness”!
4. “To the praise of the glory of His grace”: To give us joy to the glory of His grace! Our joy is energized as we bask in the glory of His grace. He has “be-graced” us and in that “be-gracing” there is a vision of His glory that insights our joy like nothing else. Christians, we receive no greater view of God than we do when we behold the glory of His grace. Jesus said in regard to this, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father”. Why? Because Jesus was the instrument of His grace towards us!

So put this together and you will understand fully “Why God did it”. “He gave His love to the good pleasure of His will to give us joy to the glory of His grace”.

2. What is the means that He used to accomplish our adoption? Well it is right here as Paul states “by Jesus Christ to Himself”. We have been placed into this family to enjoy our inheritance now solely because of Jesus. As such our present relationship has three things to ponder:
3. It is free: Since it is “by Jesus” then the cost has been once for all paid. We don’t have to work at being His adult children, we just are, and because we are we work in full joy as His children. Paul wrote to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 8:9) “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
4. It has unlimited access: Again since our adoption is through Jesus Christ then our access to our glorious riches is unlimited. Not only can we come continually we are expected to! So often we have the mentality that we are somehow bugging God when we come to Him, and nothing could be further from the truth. God has placed us as adult children in His Son to encourage us never to be away from His presence!
5. It has unlimited benefits: Finally, since our adoption as adult children not only is “by Jesus Christ” but “to Himself” that means that all the benefits that are Jesus’ as the Son of God are ours as well! These blessings in heavenly places that Paul began to speak on in the first verses take on a whole other dimension as we see this in light of the Son’s relationship to the Father and ours through the Son!

Vs. 6b The final thing that blew Paul’s mind as it related to the “goodness of God’s grace” in the plan of the Father deals with what Paul writes here namely “He has made us accepted in the Beloved.” These words describe what the “glory of His grace” has done. This word “accepted” comes from the same root word for grace and appears only three times in the New Testament; Once in Luke 1:28 where Mary is told by the angel of the Lord that she is the “highly favored one” and then twice in this verse before us where both the words “made and accepted” are the same. In other words, God’s grace worked in a way that graced us! Again there are three things to look at as they relate to our “highly favored” status:

1.     This reveals our eternal position before the Father: Those that Paul will tell the Ephesians in chapter 2 that were “dead in trespasses and sins, who were conducting themselves in the lusts of our flesh, by nature children of wrath” have been made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

2.     Since His grace has moved by “be-gracing” us our status will never change: It is He that has “made us” accepted and not we ourselves, which means that this status is not predicated upon our performance but rather upon His nature! We have no ground for boasting then do we? We can only be accepted based upon His grace as seen in Jesus’ work!

3.     Finally, this is all made possible “in the beloved”: I’m reminded of the Old Testament “kinsmen redeemer” and the threefold qualifications that had to be met for a person to be redeemed:

a.     They had to be related to the person needing redemption

b.     They had to be able to pay the price

c.     They had to be willing to do so

It is through this that we are loved as His only begotten son! The truths that we have just studied ought to forever change our lives as well as how we live them!

Ephesians 1:7-12

“Slaves set free for a purpose”

 

• I. Introduction
• Vs. 7-10 Freedom in the Son
• III. Vs. 11-12 The Plan: “To the praise of His glory”

Introduction

We have been examining the amazing truths in the one long sentence from verses 3-14 that speak of God’s work on our behalf. In verses 4-6, Paul focused on the plan of the Father:

His Choice of us before the foundation of the world

That His choice had a destination beforehand and that was to His adult children

Finally, this choice had an outcome causing us to be accepted in Jesus

The emphasis in those verses all centers on God the Father’s decision, all of it was His plan. Now you may not think that a big thing but in the scope of truth applied it is huge. Here’s why, “Since it was all God’s plan done His way and He can’t make a mistake, then I’m no accident!” So much of our world today relates to performance and talent but God’s choice was based upon His character, not ours. So it puts us all on an equal level, we are all hopelessly and helplessly lost!

Now the emphasis in these six verses is upon the Son’s activity to accomplish what the Father had planned. If you will, we have marveled upon the design now we will marvel at how the design was realized. Having just come back from Disney Land, I was blessed as I went into Walt Disney’s tribute to Lincoln as they have added a section on Walt’s vision for “The Happiest Place on Earth”. I marveled not only at his plan but how it was realized!

Vs. 7-8 Freedom in the Son

Vs. 7 The “In Him” of this verse points back to verse six where Paul spoke of our “acceptance in the beloved” so here we learn that God’s grace towards us (Greek word for accepted) was first realized by us in the area of our being “redeemed”.

One of the things that make studying the Bible difficult is how certain words that express ideas become “theologized”. You see when we use certain words to express spiritual truths and these words are used almost exclusively for that use then we ordinary folks have a struggle to understand the idea behind the word. The reality is that in the original language, the words used to express spiritual truths were common words, so the reader of the letter identified the spiritual truth with what was common to them. “Redemption” is just such an example, look up the definition of the word in the English dictionary and it will tell you that it means, “the act, process, or an instance of redemption”. Well, that doesn’t help much, does it? In California, we are all somewhat familiar with the word because of recycling as we are told that certain bottles and cans if we turn them in will get the 5 to 10 cents that they charged us extra for returned and that is said to be their “redemption value”. The word appears 10 times in the New Testament and all but one time it is rendered the same as here the other time it is used it is translated as “deliverance”. The word in Greek was most associated with the slave trade and the Romans had over 60 million slaves in their empire so this word was very common. The word means to “buy out of the market place” but it is in the present tense which means that once purchased it can never be returned. The word referred to a slave who had been purchased to be set free and never be enslaved again. So what we see here is that God’s grace can first be seen in our lives through the truth that we have been set free never to be enslaved again. Oh but what have we been set free from? Well, in a nutshell, our selves! The 6^th chapter of Romans is where Paul tells us what we were all, the moment we were born, enslaved to sin. Oh, this is not that popular today in our world, as people want to blame everything but themselves for bad behavior. The modern way of looking at people’s “antisocial” behavior is to find a reason for it and then seek to cure it. The premise stems from the point of view that people are basically “good” and it is one or all of several things that have caused them to become bad:

• Lack of education
• Bad environment
• Poor self-image
• Genetic or biology

The bottom line in this “Psychological behaviorism” point of view is that we are not only basically good, the problem of our being bad is not our fault! Whoo, I feel better already at least until I get the bill! The cure for what ills us can come about through understanding ourselves, changing our surroundings, loving ourselves more, and blaming our parents! Of course, you will need regular help from a trained professional, (covered by most HMOs) and following their expertise. The problem with this point of view is that it flies in the face of the Bible, which declares the exact opposite:

We are not basically good, as we are sinners by nature as well as choice. Rom. 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

It is our fault as we have made choices on our own that we are responsible for. Ps. 14:3 “They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.”

It is for this reason that the message of Jesus is so offensive to many people because they would have to accept responsibility for being sinners. Yet the truth is here before us of the wonderful gospel of Jesus’ work on our behalf. I want us to focus in n five things about our redemption:

7a “In Him”: Here the focus is on the redeemer, as we cannot be set free apart from someone willing to do so. There were three things necessary for a person to be willing to set another free: Able to pay the price, willing to do so, and related to the one being set free! The good news is Jesus folks; we have no good news without Him.

7b “We have redemption”: Here the focus is on who He sets free or liberates. We can not be set free if we fail to recognize our bondage or fail to admit our sole responsibility for it. The miracle of this verse is the “we” can include any and all who as John wrote in 1 John 1:9 that “confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

7c “Through His blood”: Here we see the price of “His blood”! But why blood? Several things come to mind:

17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

1 Peter 1:18-19 “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Finally practically speaking there is no way to sanitize it as blood reveals both the awfulness of our sin and, thus our guilt as well as the price paid by another. I saw a short video over the weekend that was a bit militant but biblically speaking it was right on the money as it read, “No peace until justice!”

7d “We have…the forgiveness of sins”: Here the focus is on the results. The word forgiveness means to dismiss or set aside for all our miss deeds every one of them he has dismissed. Not just what was committed but everyone that will ever be committed. Our forgiveness as it relates to our being set free is always in the present tense which means that our sins not only “WERE” forgiven but currently “ARE” forgiven! In other words, I was not just set free and now am left to maintain a “clean slate” I am set free and being continually set free! Since this was such a huge point Paul makes sure that his readers understand that this dismissal of all past present and future miss deeds is based upon nothing to do with us as he tells us:

7 “according to the riches of His grace”: Here is the only answer to the question of why God was willing to send His only Son to death to set us free. Notice that it does not say, “out of the riches of His grace” but rather “according to the riches of His grace”. A millionaire may give $25 to charity and it would be “out of his riches” but if he gave several million then it would be “according to his riches”.

8 “which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence”: The word “abound” means to lavish and is a picture of God’s generosity as he just keeps on heaping on His portions of grace towards us. The fact that He did so in light of our failure makes one wonder if He did so knowingly. Well, the answer is right here as it says that he did so in all “sound sense” (wisdom) with “full understanding of all human affairs” (prudence). In other words, He knew just who you really were and still chose to call you, His child! He neither winks at our indiscretions nor does He inflate our good while ignoring the bad. Instead, He goes to the super abundance of His grace and heaps it upon us!

9 “having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself”: Verse 10 tells us the mystery of His will and that is “He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth”. In other words, His plan is to unite everything back to its original design all of which will be under His Son. Why? Well because it is the “good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” People all the time blame God for the way things are ripped apart in their lives but the truth is God’s plan is to untie what our sin has torn apart if we would just let Him!

10 “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; in Him”: Yes, but when will He do this? At just the right time! Well, I think the right time would be now! I agree, but there might be some more that He is going to bring together in His grace!

Vs. 11-12 The Plan: “To the praise of His glory”

Vs. 11-12 There is a dual truth here, in that we both “obtain” an inheritance and are ourselves His inheritance. He is everything to us and we are everything to Him! The truth is He has a plan in mind for setting you free! Will I sure would like to know what that plan is! Well, he tells you two very important things about that plan right here:

11b “predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will”: That it was predetermined according to His purpose that everything you are going through in your life is right on His plan! Is that not amazing? God will take everything thing that seems like an accident and make it work out exactly as He planned! Man does that not bring about comfort? The comfort does not come in knowing the future but rather in knowing WHO holds my future and that everything He sends my way is in tune with the same nature that heaped grace upon grace towards one like me who didn’t deserve any of it!

12 “that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.” Finally, His plan will always work “to the praise of His glory”! Ah, now you see why we have a hard time with His plan for us as we think it ought to be “the praise of our glory”! What we can rest upon is that what is best for the Father and the Son will always be best for us.

 

 

Ephesians 1:13-14

“Signed, sealed, and delivered”

• I. Introduction
• Vs. 13a Hear, trust, and believe
• III. Vs. 13b-14 The real deal

 

 

Introduction

 In this, the longest sentence in the book we have moved from the “Plan of the Father” brought before time to the “Price paid for by the son” seen in history to the “Protection of the Holy Spirit” which each believer has experienced personally in our own lives. Paul wanted to implant in his readers the amazing work of the Godhead in our lives. So we see that the Father called us and then the Son activated His plan by liberating us, but just what part does the Holy Spirit play in this? Looking at this verse we can see that He is active in our lives from the start of our time all the way to the finish.

In these two verses, we see the work of the Holy Spirit guiding our hearts toward Jesus and then guaranteeing our finish as well. There are not many things today that you can have security in are there? You buy this or that and things come with great promises but when needed you cannot always collect on the warranty. Lately, we have been inundated with telemarketers at Church each promising something that we can’t live without all backed by their personal guarantee. Usually, I politely say that I’m not interested only to have them continue to tell of the savings and convenience if I just listen some more. The reason for these folks’ nonstop talk is that they realize if they can keep you on the phone, they have greater odds of selling you something. Thursday, I had five such calls and after the 4^th I decided to change my tactic from the defense, “I’m not interested, thank you” and then hanging up while they continued to talk. Instead, I decided to be on the offense, and as soon as they asked me my name and told me theirs, I would start talking to them about Jesus. Sure enough Stan from Staples wanted to set me up as a corporate client, but I was ready for him. “Hello, I’m Stan from Staples calling for Dale Lewis to share the incredible savings that we are inviting Calvary Chapel of Merced to participate in.” “Are you Dale?” “Why yes I am Stan and Stan I’ve got some great news for you today as I have a free offer for you personally, and it’s backed by a guarantee”. Stan had no chance as I gave him the gospel and asked questions about his understanding of his personal need for Jesus. After a little over a minute I asked Stan if he would pray with me, he said he could not as he was on company time but I asked him to pray the moment he got off the work! Oh, how glorious the work of the Holy Spirit is as He opens our hearts to hear the gospel and then places His personal seal on us to ensure our safe delivery!

 

Vs. 13a Hear, trust, and believe

 Vs. 13a Having just expounded upon the amazing price paid for setting us free by the Son, Paul moves to how that historic act became life-changing to individual people. How can an event that happened so long ago in which no one alive today ever saw it have such a change upon people now? That’s a great question don’t you agree? Well, Paul is going to relate this to the Ephesians. First notice this little phrase, “In Him you also trusted” as there are four very important points that Paul makes in this statement as it relates to our salvation:

“In Him”: Our salvation is not linked to a religion, philosophy, or ideology. Our salvation is in a “Person”. There is not a person who has ever become a Christian apart from coming to know and trust in a person whom they met named “Jesus”! Long before I understood scripture or the basic tenets of our faith, I bumped into a Person who was so captivating that I just wanted to know Him better. I was keenly aware of my sins and shamed by my lifestyle, yet there was also something that made me desire to change, and as fearful as I was of this, His love drew me to let go of those things that were destroying me and grab hold of Him. Simply put I had an encounter with the risen Lord and I have never been the same since!

“You”: Ah, this makes it personal doesn’t it? Paul can not say that “In Him you parents, friends…” also trusted. We cannot have salvation based on someone else’s meeting with Jesus. It is a date that every person has to go on by himself or herself before they fall in love with Him. Oh, you can come back after you’re first meeting with and tell a friend, “Hey, I’ve just met the most incredible person and you have got to meet them!” But they won’t be able to appreciate Him until they also have met Him. As excited as Philip was to Nathanael when he told him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote; Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” It still was not enough until he came and saw for himself!

“Also”: Interesting little word as it is a word that destroys all classes and groups of people doesn’t it? That means that not only is our salvation in a person and that it must be personally acquired it is universally the same for every human being no matter who they are. Simply put if you are going to be saved you are going to have to meet the Savior! You see Paul is speaking of the Jews and the Gentiles; thus, his view is upon the very religious and the unreligious, and of course that would include different nationalities, economic, political, ethnic, and ages. And he says the Jews and Gentiles “also” had to be saved by personally meeting the Savior.

“Trusted”: Finally, we are given how this personal encounter with Jesus has the same effect upon so many people, “trust”. This is where our response is noticed is it not? As we read the pages of the Bible it is full of folks who had personal encounters with Jesus but not everyone who met Him left the meeting transformed, you see that is where trust comes into play. Take the story above of Nathanael after he met Jesus and Jesus told him everything about him prior to having ever met him. Nathanael was still faced with a trust issue to believe what he had just encountered himself to which he replied, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

As I stated the Holy Spirit is involved in each and every conversion, but He will be there all the way with you, ushering you into God the Father’s presence. The emphasis in these two verses is on His active participation in our salvation, and then His activity in guaranteeing our future inheritance. It appears here that the Holy Spirit plays two very important parts in our conversion:

“After you heard the word of truth”: Have you ever noticed that there is always a connection between the Spirit of God and the word of God? As Jesus was speaking to His disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit, He said in John 14:26 “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” It is the primary work of the Holy Spirit to “teach us all things and bring into remembrance all the things Jesus said”. We are told two specific things about what the Holy Spirit teaches us:

“Word of truth”: What the Holy Spirit energizes into our listening hearts is truth! That by the way is what we most often don’t like, the truth. Oh, we may seek the truth about others, but we don’t appreciate the truth being known about ourselves. But note this dear Christian, you cannot ever get to the good news until you have first admitted the “word of truth” about yourself. We all seek to play down our problems and our responsibility for them don’t we? The Word of Truth cuts through all the things we put up to disguise reality. All our attempts to make excuses for our behavior are like perfume on a pig and the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and brings home the truth about ourselves and it’s not pretty, is it? James likens the Word of truth to a mirror and the person who just listens with their ears and not the hearts as a person who walks away and conveniently forgets what kind of reflection they truly saw! The “having believed” in this verse does not just relate to the “gospel of our salvation” it also refers to believing the word of truth about ourselves, and that is where each of us must start.

“Gospel of your salvation”: The Greek word “gospel” appears some 77 times in the New Testament, and it means “good news.” In fact, it is where we get our word eulogy from. In English, the translators chose to translate this word meaning “good news” by an Anglo–Saxon phrase “good spell”. Now when you think of the origins of words this makes perfect sense as a spell by definition is a “spoken word or words held to have magic power”. So the translators thought about the “good news” of the message of the person and work of Jesus and realized the effect it has upon us by the Holy Spirit and said, “He places upon us a good spell which leads to our salvation if we believe!”

“Having believed”: Here then is the active part where the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to trust the truth about ourselves and the truth about the person and work of Jesus. Notice again Paul’s words here concerning the gospel as he clearly says, “In whom also, having believed”. Why is that so important? Well because our trust is never in a message or a Church, no it is in the Person of Jesus He is the “good spell”. The work of the Holy Spirit is not merely to get us to agree intellectually on a statement concerning Jesus and ourselves. We don’t just say, “Yeh, I’m a sinner and Jesus is my Savior!” No, the work of the Holy causes us to lose all hope in ourselves because of the truth about us and gain all hope in the truth about Jesus!

Have you ever had an experience where you are listening to the “Word of truth” and you feel as if what is being said is especially for you? I mean there is a conviction that settles upon your heart and you wonder if someone has spoken to the person sharing the secrets of your heart. Well, you know what the Holy Spirit has, He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart and whispers them into the words of the person speaking without them ever knowing, and bam right to your heart. Oh, but then He puts His Good Spell on you that leads you to trust Jesus all the more! That is why Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

 

 Vs. 13b-14 The real deal

 Vs. 13b The work of the Holy Spirit now switches from our initial conversion to that of securing and preserving that which has been saved. That is what is behind Paul’s words, “having believed you were sealed”. The truth is the sealing can not take place until the saving has taken place. The fact that it says “we’re sealed” indicates that it is a completed work that happened the moment we trusted the Lord.

Now Ephesus was a harbor city that was used to ship its goods throughout the Roman Empire so they were very familiar with the stamping or sealing of cargo on the docks. Seals were used to prove four specific things and the use of this term directly relates to our sealing by the Holy Spirit:

Ownership: Usually the owner of the cargo stamped their logo into melted wax and it was this stamp that proved ownership. That is what Paul is implying here that God sent the Holy Spirit into our lives as the mark that we belong to Him. In Romans 8:16 Paul writes of this saying that, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”. The fruit of the Spirit is the visible manifestation of this sealing as we are told in Gal. 5:22 “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Security: The sealing of cargo also provided security, as it would be visible if the seal had been broken. In John 6:39 Jesus said, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” We too can rest assured that the Holy Spirit in our lives secures our voyage across dangerous seas.

Authenticity: Just like today, you can purchase something, and they will give you a stamped piece of paper as proof of its authenticity. So, the visible work of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives proves authenticity.

Finality: The sealing was also used as proof of the finished transaction. That is why Paul calls this seal the “Holy Spirit of promise”.

Vs. 14 Paul also speaks of the Holy Spirit’s sealing of us as the “guarantee of our inheritance”. In modern Greek, the word used for “guarantee” is the same word they use today for the word “engagement ring”. So just like the engagement ring promises a yet future wedding so too does the sealing of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And when will the wedding be? Well, Paul says at, “the redemption of the purchased possession”, simply put when we are reunited with Him which will be “to the praise of His glory.”

How great is the work of God on our behalf? That we see the plan of the Father in choosing us solely based on His nature and character. Then we marvel at the price paid on our behalf by the Son. Finally, we see the work of the Holy at our conversion and in our future as He ushers us into the wedding with the bride Jesus.

 

 

 

Ephesians 1:15-18a

“Discovering our resources (part a)”

 

• I. Introduction
• Vs. 15-16 Staying on top
• III. Vs. 17-18a Knowledge and hope

 

Introduction

 The word “therefore” in this verse signifies a transition from what Paul had just spoken of to that which he is about to speak on. In verses 4-14 (the longest sentence in the book) Paul was transfixed upon what God has done on behalf of believers:

vs. 4-6 Plan of the father:

Our calling by the Father before time began

His destining us to be his adult children

vs. 7-12 Price paid by the Son:

Our being set free and forgiven by His shed blood

His gathering together all things for His glory

vs. 13-14 Protection by the Spirit:

Our hearts being opened to the truth by the Holy Spirit

His sealing of us guarantees our future glory

All of this was the work of God and now Paul is moved to prayer on their behalf in this the first of two prayers recorded in this book. I don’t know about you but if I had to evaluate the weakest aspect of my Christian life it would have to be my prayer life. Oh, it’s not that I don’t pray rather it is that I don’t realize what to pray. I was having no luck trying to come up with a title to this section of scripture trying to capture what the general theme of it was until I clicked on a button on my computer screen for a Bible software program I have. As the program was loading in small print two words popped up to let me know that it was searching for the program the words simply said, “Discovering Resources”! Ah, I thought that is what Paul’s prayer is all about, in fact, that is what our prayer lives are to be all about “Discovering our Resources”! As I looked over my notes I discovered “Four specific things that Paul prays that these Ephesians would discover about their resources as believers”:

17b “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”: Now knowledge deals with our thinking process or our mind, it is informational so that is what Paul prays for.

18a “What is the hope of His calling”: Now “hope” deals with our emotions on things doesn’t it?

18b “The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”: Here the emphasis of this part of the prayer deals with our attitudes or motivation.

19-23 “The exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe”: The final aspect of Paul’s prayer deals with our actions.

That is what Paul prayed for these believers, that the truth of God and what He has done for us would be experienced in how we think, what we feel, our attitudes, and our actions!

  

Vs. 15-16 Staying on top

 Vs. 15 There are four fascinating aspects of this prayer that help us in our prayer life:

Paul had just finished speaking to them about all that God has done on their behalf and so it is as if he says, “Well I’ve just talked to you about the Lord and now I’m going to talk to the Lord about you!” I think it is a great thing to communicate the truths concerning the person and work of God on our behalf to others, but I think there is still another very important thing that still relates to communication and it is our communication with God about what we have just spoken to His Child about!

Second notice “who” Paul prayed for. Now think of your prayer life as it relates to others, and you will notice something else quite remarkable about this prayer of Paul’s for the believers in Ephesus. You see we are most likely to commit to praying for each other when times are tough, aren’t we? But look at Paul’s words here, “after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:” What? Paul’s prayer for these fellows was motivated by how well they were doing not how poorly they were doing! This was “preventive prayer” not “need prayer” and I personally think we would have far fewer needs if most of our prayer time was spent preventing us from our needs rather than praying to get us out of our needs!

16 Finally notice “when” Paul prayed for them, “do not cease”! These words in Greek are used to describe a tickle in the throat, which is involuntary and can’t be stopped. Paul was constantly thanking the Lord and speaking to Him concerning these believers. We are so conditioned to think of “prayer” as a specific time instead of all the time. A good friend of mine used to have a line he would throw out to get folks to think of prayer as much more than an “emergency brake” by always responding to the words “let’s pray” with the phrase “Has it come to this?”

Finally, the content of the prayer itself amazes me as it relates to my own prayer life. Have you ever lost something and torn the house apart trying to look for it? I think that resembles a lot of our prayer lives, don’t you? For the most part, we pray for the things we simply have misplaced which are already ours in Christ. So, Paul prays for that which they already have in essence so that they would not misplace it. In light of the history of the Church in Ephesus, seeing that they left their first love is not a bad thing to be praying for. Think of how different our lives would be if we simply appropriated what is already ours in Christ!

There were two specific things that Paul had heard about these believers whom he had not been around in some 10 years. These two things were the evidence that what Paul had spoken of in verses 4-14 had been realized in their lives. The Christian life can always be summed up in these two evidence, in fact, you cannot just have one without the other:

15a “Faith in the Lord Jesus”: Truth had come into the heart of these Christians and they were trusting that truth about the person and work of Jesus to the point that folks even in Rome were talking about it. There was a loyalty, a devotion to Jesus that went far beyond a mere intellectual agreement or even of profession. Their devotion was a visible one no doubt seen in a change of how they had been living to what they were now living. God was at work in them and this was evidenced because they were at work in God! Radical Christianity is seen in our obedience to truth not a mere agreement towards it and such was the case with these believers.

15b “Love for all the saints”: If the first evidence that these were “real believers” was seen in their trust of the truth then the most obvious manifestation of this comes in the phrase “love for all the saints”. There can be no doubt that where our love for all the saints is dwindling then so to is our faith diminishing. You will often hear those who do not attend Church say, “Oh I love Jesus I just don’t like His friends!” But to this attitude, the Bible is plain as John wrote in 1^st John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” Faith works by love and if our trust in the Lord has not resulted in our becoming a more loving person then it is not a “growing faith”. The amazing thing is that knowledge of truth is measured not by the right statements but rather by the right actions and the mere knowledge of something does not indicate growth only the practice of our knowledge. Now I suppose we would all feel a lot better about this phrase if it wasn’t for that little three-letter word “ALL”! If Paul just said that they had love for most of the saints, some of the saints, the saints that were most like us! Ah, now I can feel better about my spiritual health! No, Paul has to say that these fellows were loving “all” their fellow believers regardless of their grating personalities and differences. You see I find that I can exhibit “great love for the saints that love me” How about you? But how about those who rub you the wrong way?

  

Vs. 17-18a Knowledge and hope

 Vs. 17 Paul addresses his prayer to God using two unusual names for God both of which only appear here in this prayer and are found nowhere else in scripture.

God of our Lord Jesus Christ: Why does he address God by use of these words? Quite obviously this prayer is directed to the Father with a view of the Son and in so doing the emphasis is upon assurance that God will hear such a prayer. You can go to the 22nd chapter of Luke and hear Jesus’ prayer for Peter and see something similar as Jesus prayed, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail”. So these words are of assurance of the prayer heard!

The Father of Glory: That being true then the second word for God is the assurance of the prayer answered as God is the “Father of glory”. He is the One who originates glory it begins and ends with Him, thus the outcome of such a prayer in our lives will be glorious!

Here is the first thing Paul prays for as it relates to these believers “The knowledge of Him”. Hey wait a minute I thought these folks were already Christians, so why did they need the knowledge of Him? It is always our greatest need to have more comprehension as it relates to the person and work of God. Amazingly, Paul does not start out asking God to give them something, work something out in their favor instead he simply asks God to give to them more of Himself! In other words, the truths he spoke of in verses 4-14 would be experienced more and more in their lives. Now notice that this knowledge of Him was to be realized in two ways:

Spirit of wisdom: Paul’s prayer was by way of the Holy Spirit and that he would grant them a special deposit of wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, so Paul prays for the mind not just to assert truth but rather to grasp the person and work of God as to apply Him to every aspect of their lives. Why the Holy Spirit? Well because the natural man can not understand the things of God (1 Cor. 2:9-16).

Revelation: This word relates to unveiling that which was previously hidden and Paul prays that God would enable us to see more of Him which was hidden from us.

Hey Christian we are in a relationship with God and it is a relationship that ought to get us to desire to want to get to know Him better. The truth is the better we know God the better we will know ourselves. Any relationship that does not go deeper and deeper into our understanding of each other will in time grow apart. In July my wife and I will celebrate 25 years of marriage and over 28 years that we have known each other. We not only can finish each other’s sentences, but often we will call each other and know what the other is thinking! It has happened because we have continued to grow deeper in our understanding of each other.

The first part of this fourfold prayer deals with our mind and its continual application of the person of God and the riches of His grace towards us. It is for this reason that none of us can ever say we have arrived in our knowledge of God we all need more of Him!

Next, we have the 2^nd thing Paul prays on their behalf for, “The hope of His calling”. Ah, this deals with our emotions, doesn’t it? Webster defines hope as an “expectation with confidence” I seem to struggle with this so much in my life. Now I think I’ve found the reason why I struggle with hope so much and it is found in the phrase, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened”. Paul is speaking about the greatest gulf known to mankind which is 18 inches from the head to the heart. You see I can know something is true in my head but when it comes down to experiencing the truth emotionally I tend to trust what I can see with my eyes. That is why Paul prays that “the eyes of our hearts may be opened”! Do you get it? I’ll never experience expectations in confidence if I only gauge things based on my understanding. Paul prays, “Open up these guys’ hearts so they can understand what you have called them to!” I was reading the other day in Revelation 15 of the song of the martyred believers in heaven and the song they will sing and it gave me a great hope of my calling. They sing, “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!” I realized that I so often fail in “expectation in confidence” because I view my life upon experiences meeting my expectations of them. But in heaven, we like these persecuted believers will sing concerning God’s dealing with us concerning His works and ways that they have always, and at all times been “Great and marvelous and Just and True”. God cannot do anything but that which is “Great and marvelous and Just and true” It is impossible for Him to do so, as it would be against His very nature. So what’s my point? My hope comes from knowing Who He is and that in every way and work, He will always act in accordance with His nature. In Jeremiah 29:11 God spoke towards the nation of Israel who was rebelling against Him “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Oh dear believer that is what He has called you to today and one day you and I will sing what we can only do by faith now, “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!”

 

 

Ephesians 1:18b-23

“Discovering our resources (part b)”

 

• I. Introduction
• Vs. 18b What we mean to God
• III. Vs. 19-23 His power towards us

 

Introduction

 When I consider this the first of two prayers of Paul for the Ephesians, I’m amazed by how different this prayer is than my own. You see most of my prayer life centers around physical needs and the perceived lack of those needs as it relates to my expectation. My prayer sounds something like this, “Lord I lift up my financial need and ask that you would meet that, amen!” This week God brought two truths into my life that indicate to me how my prayer life would have a greater impact on me if I followed Paul’s example here in these verses. My problem is a problem of focus or should I say “wrong focus”. Those of us who must wear glasses are familiar with the terms nearsighted and farsighted. Well, it seems to me that I suffer from not being able to see up close or far away. Here is what I mean:

Can’t see up close: I was reading in our daily bread for Friday the 21^st when this sentence caught my attention. The sentence said, “It’s when we can’t do anything that God does everything!” My problem is that my focus is on what I lack instead of on realizing what I need I already have and praying for more of Him! In other words, my lack becomes the opportunity to have God become my everything! Wow, isn’t that exciting?

Can’t see far away: The 2^nd discovery came about as I was reading a book by Mark Buchanan called “Your God is too safe”. In it, he made a statement that made me realize that my focus was on an outcome instead of a Person. He wrote, “Expectancy is the belief that God will do something, expectation insists that He do it my way!” Oh how that one hurt as I realize that my focus is so often upon “expectation” and so seldom upon “expectancy”!

As Paul prayed for these growing Ephesians He did so by asking God to give them more of Himself in four areas of their life:

17b “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”: How we think

18a “What is the hope of His calling”: What we feel

18b “The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”: Our attitudes

19-23 “The exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe”: Our actions

 

Vs. 18b What we mean to God

 Vs. 18b Already in this verse Paul had asked the Lord on behalf of the Ephesian believers to open up the eyes of their hearts, (the eyes of your understanding being enlightened). The challenge is always a problem of sight, isn’t it? We are so prone to base everything upon our physical senses and completely ignore our spiritual ones. There are many verses that speak of our spiritual senses such as here where the N.I.V. renders this “eyes of your heart”. Then there is that passage in Psalm 34:8 where the psalmist invites all to “Taste and see that the LORD is good”. So what Paul is about to share as it relates to our understanding has to do NOT with “head knowledge” but rather “heart knowledge”.

But just what does Paul mean to pray for with regards to “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”? There are two points:

This is the 2^nd time in this chapter Paul wrote using the word “riches”. In verse 7 Paul wrote that redemption and forgiveness were according to the “riches of His grace”, here the emphasis is upon “the riches of the glory”. “Riches in grace”, has to do with a past act in which present circumstances are enjoyed NOW. “Riches of glory”, is something yet future that we have not yet entered.

Second Paul tells us that these “riches of the glory” are “of His inheritance in the saints”. Did you see that? Paul’s point is not the riches of the glory of our inheritance in Him, which is what verses 4-14, have dealt with but here the emphasis is the other direction.

When we look at our inheritance in Him, we realize the truth that He belongs us.

He belongs to us: The truth of this leads us to realize that He alone is our strength, our only hope and resource. How great this is in our spiritual life is it not?

When we focus (as the phrase before us) on His inheritance in us then we realize that we belong to Him.

We belong to Him: Here then we see that we are His property and we come to see what we mean to God. We are His delight and in fact of all of His creation only redeemed sinners will abide with Him for eternity. Jesus gave a parable that illustrated this in Mathew 13:45-46 when He said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” You see in those days folks would bury treasure in a property they owned for safekeeping, but now and then a person would die, and the treasure was lost. It would remain lost until some fellow would be going through the abandoned field and stumble upon the treasure. Then he would go and sell whatever he could to purchase the field not because he wanted the field but because he was after the treasure. The truth that Jesus speaks of here is that the field is the world and we are the treasure. Don’t you get it, “He bought the world to get you”? You’re his investment; He has invested His only Son to get you!

Oh, what a glorious perspective is it not? Not only did God buy the world to get you, but the fact that it is the “glory of His inheritance in the saints” speaks of His ability to see us as we really are in Him even though practically, we are not! God has that great nature to see us based upon what we will be in Him even though we are so far from it. How does this impact us? Well, it changes our attitude and the motivation of why we do everything. When we realize that not only is He our resource, but He has invested in us and knows what we will become. We are not serving to appease a tyrannical god; instead, we realize our value to Him and His supreme confidence in His work in and through us!

  

Vs. 19-23 His power towards us

 Vs. 19 There are a great many times in our Christian experience that we ask for that which we sing, “more power”! It appears to me that our problem does not lie in a shortage of power but rather in our loss of sight of the One who is the source of all power. There are three points Paul makes concerning “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe”.

His Power: The exceeding greatness is because it is His power and in fact, Paul uses four different words in this verse to describe God’s power.

Power: The first word is where we get our English word “dynamite and dynamic” from and it speaks of power that is from God. As such it speaks of power that is without limit able to accomplish all that it seeks to do.

Working: This word for working is where we get our word “energy” from and it relates to the working out of this power.

Mighty: This word can be translated both in terms of strength as well as what that strength enables us to accomplish “dominion.”

Power: This word has to do with the ability to perform or if you the function of power.

God supplies all the dynamic energy that enables us to accomplish that which we need to perform as His children in this life. Gone from our vocabulary ought to be the words, which speak of our inability to live as God has called us to.

Towards us: Here we speak to whom God has made His power available to. How glorious is that the exceeding greatness of His power is pointed toward us, and available for us? That is why it is silly to sing “more power” when all of His power is already available to us, so the problem is not that of a diminishing supply but rather how we might activate it. There is nothing God’s power in our lives cannot overcome then is there? “Pastor, you don’t understand I’ve been trying to stop this for so long and have never gotten the victory!” Well, that may be so, but the problem has not been a lack of supply but rather a distribution problem. You get in your car and it won’t run so you check and see if you have gas, well the tank is full, don’t go around saying you’re out of gas. No the problem you are not getting that power ignited.

Who believe: Here then is the very reason so many lives are devoid of God’s power; it is trusting in Him that activates it. There is a limitless supply, but it never gets activated because we simply don’t trust Him. Again, it goes back to the difference between expectancy and expectation, doesn’t it?

Vs. 20-23 Paul goes on to illustrate “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” in these verses.

20a “He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead”: The first point Paul makes has to do with how great this power is. Follow me on this, “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us” can be measured by its ability to defeat the greatest foe we all will ever face, death. Every person has or will have to face this enemy, and everyone has lost save One, Jesus. Oh, there have been some that claim to have “cheated death” but in reality, all they did was dodge it for a while. So, you got an enemy who has defeated every single person they have ever faced and then one day old death goes out and takes on this humble carpenter’s son and in a few short hours is prancing around the arena in seeming victory as it has countless times before. Ah, but this time Jesus gets up off the canvas and knocks out death, so now who is the most powerful? How does this truth apply to my life? Resurrection power does not care about the obstacles, place a mountain in front of the tomb, and make decrease by the most powerful men in the world, place an army in front of the tomb, no problem!

20a-21 “seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Here then is Paul’s second illustration concerning “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us” and this has to do with assurance. You see Jesus is the champion but what if someone else comes along? Look at this verse and Paul makes two huge points that lead to one conclusion.

“Seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”: So great a victory over death did Jesus win that He is now seated. That means there aren’t any more takers out there.

“Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Furthermore, since He is at the right hand, which is the place of supreme power and authority, and this is in heavenly places. So, this tells me that His power is not diminishing and that anyone who wants to take their shot at defeating Him is going to have to do so on His home turf! That is what Paul says here concerning His power that it is “far above all” Then he goes on to list the angelic order of creation as well as any other “name that is named”. Finally, Paul says not just for now but throughout eternity!

Here then is Paul’s point concerning “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe”, “There is nothing over His head and everything under His feet!”

22-23 Finally Paul makes his last point concerning “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” and this has to do with its availability. Simply put, He is our head and we are His body! There is a living connection between Jesus and us and if we are not living a victorious Christian life then the power outage is because we are not activating our resources in Him! God has supplied all we need according to the riches of the glory of His grace, has He not? We have the power to love, overcome the flesh, and handle any and every situation! When it says here that “the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” It speaks of the truth that only are we assured of the victory we know that it is He who will make sure of it!

So you see this prayer of Paul to the Ephesians deals with applying Jesus to how we think, what we feel, our attitudes as well as our actions! Praise the Lord now we know what to pray for each other as well as ourselves!