Ephesians 1A Studying a New Testament letter can feel a little like taking a cllege curse The epistles are usually stuffed with deep, thelgical explanatins f Christ and ur salvatin They are like nins that have t be unpeeled ne layer at a time We encunter challenging wrds that require explanatin, wrds like prpitiatin, predestinatin, grace We may find references t bscure Old Testament passages r sme new spiritual mystery S if yu ve ever fund yurself reading a single verse frm ne f Paul s letters ver and ver again trying t make sense f it, yu re nt alne But ther times studying an epistle can feel like yu ve intercepted smene else s mail Paul, Peter, Jhn, James addressed believers frm lng ag and in unfamiliar circumstances Smetimes the situatins they cver will be familiar t us, like marriage r children Other times we re left scratching ur heads trying t find relevance in eating meat sacrificed t idls r slaves returning t their masters But apart frm the unique subject matter and style f each epistle, we generally find a cmmn pattern in mst every New Testament letter Yu will find teaching n dctrine fllwed by exhrtatin fr practical applicatin f that dctrine The writer tells us smething abut the Persn f Christ r the wrk f Christ r the future f the Church And then the writer turns t his readers and urges us t act in accrdance with that knwledge 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 2 f 13 And f curse this makes perfect sense, that we shuld first need t understand Gd s ways and expectatins befre we can seek t please Him Mrever, if we appreciate what Gd has in stre fr us, we re less likely t live in a shrtsighted fashin And we certainly find this pattern in Paul s letters Perhaps mre than anyne else, Paul uses teaching n Christian dctrine as a springbard int exhrtatin fr hw t live He gives us the what s he can then give us the s what Near the end f his life Paul declared he was inncent befre men fr having declared the whle cunsel f Gd He understd that believers needs bth dctrine and exhrtatin t achieve their full measure f spiritual maturity I nce heard smene nce flishly suggest that the church needed less teaching n dctrine and mre calls t actin That s a clear denial f what we find in the New Testament letters That s like the captain f a cruise ship rdering mre prpeller but less rudder It merely results in ging nwhere faster But we can see in the epistles themselves evidence that the Lrd expected us t understand the dctrines f ur faith s we may live by them, as Jesus said: Luke 8:21 But He answered and said t them, My mther and My brthers are these wh hear the wrd f Gd and d it. Jesus wants fllwers t hear His wrd (which means t understand it) and then t put ut int actin what we ve learned It s pssible fr a persn t understand Gd s wrd yet fail t put it int actin Sadly, believers d this all the time But it s impssible t act n smething yu ve never taken time t understand 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 3 f 13 Therefre, the Church must endeavr t KNOW the mind f Gd as revealed in scripture as a prerequisite t living accrding t the wrd We study epistles t learn dctrine Then we dare t put it int actin what we learn, even against the rebellin f ur flesh and the resistance f the wrld That s why the Lrd gave us the epistles and that s why we study them Tday we begin ur study in a letter written t a majr city f the Rman Prvince f Asia Minr, called Ephesus But we aren t starting in the letter Paul wrte t that city Instead, we begin this mrning in a letter Jesus wrte t Ephesus sme 30 years later Frm Revelatin 2: Rev. 2:1 T the angel f the church in Ephesus write: The One wh hlds the seven stars in His right hand, the One wh walks amng the seven glden lampstands, says this: Rev. 2:2 I knw yur deeds and yur til and perseverance, and that yu cannt tlerate evil men, and yu put t the test thse wh call themselves apstles, and they are nt, and yu fund them t be false; Rev. 2:3 and yu have perseverance and have endured fr My name s sake, and have nt grwn weary. Rev. 2:4 But I have this against yu, that yu have left yur first lve. Rev. 2:5 Therefre remember frm where yu have fallen, and repent and d the deeds yu did at first; r else I am cming t yu and will remve yur lampstand ut f its place unless yu repent. Rev. 2:6 Yet this yu d have, that yu hate the deeds f the Niclaitans, which I als hate. Rev. 2:7 He wh has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says t the churches. T him wh vercmes, I will grant t eat f the tree f life which is in the Paradise f Gd. Obviusly, we re nt starting a study f Revelatin, but we re lking at Revelatin 2 tday because Jesus letter t Ephesus directly relates t Paul s letter The Apstle Jhn recrds Jesus s cmmendatin t the church in Ephesus fr standing strng against false teachers Certainly, standing up t false teachers is a cmmendable thing 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 4 f 13 Other churches in their day were nt s diligent False teachers, particularly Judiazers, were making inrads int churches in the empire at that time But Ephesus remained devted t prclaiming and preserving the truth dctrines f the apstles Ephesus resistance t false teaching prbably came frm their clse assciatin with early church leaders Paul lived and taught in Ephesus fr abut three years during his secnd missinary jurney The Apstle Jhn himself ministered inside the city fr sme years And Paul s prtege Timthy ministered there as well There are even sme wh suggest Peter may have spent time in Ephesus after fleeing Jerusalem With s many strng teachers guarding the flck in Ephesus, it s nt surprising that the church held the high grund n dctrine But what is a little surprising, hwever, is that this church failed t put that dctrine int actin Jesus tld this church that He had ne thing against them: they had left their first lve What is the first lve f the church? One pssible answer (and perhaps the first ne that cmes t ur minds) wuld be Christ Himself But I dn t think that s what Jesus is talking abut here I dn t think Jesus is saying the church abandned Him persnally, as if t suggest they were n lnger believing in Jesus The wrd in Greek fr first is prts, which means mst prminence, befre all else He s nt speaking f chrnlgical rder, that is the first kind f lve 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 5 f 13 He s speaking f mst imprtant, the highest pririty Ntice in v.5 the Lrd gave the church t recipe fr returning t their first lve He tld the church t d the deeds they did at first Once again, the wrd first here is prts in Greek meaning mst imprtant S apparently, the first r highest pririty lve f the church is serving the Lrd thrugh ur deeds We re talking abut wrship, study, prayer, meeting the needs in the bdy Witnessing cncerning their new-fund faith t the citizens f Ephesus Enduring persecutin even as they rejiced in miracles f the Spirit In shrt, living by the Spirit in light f the salvatin they have received Ephesus had great respect fr dctrine, great intlerance fr false teaching, and ne pint they did deeds in keeping with the dctrine they knew But at sme pint, things changed in Ephesus They left their first lve, Jesus said They set aside the mre imprtant wrk f the Church, f serving Christ and Gd s peple Instead, they returned t the lwer pririty f pursing wrldly things, earthly accmplishments, earthly wealth, earthly recgnitin Because they knew s much and did s little, Jesus declared it was t their cndemnatin in the end Jesus warned the church in Ephesus that culd lse their lampstand In ther wrds, if they wuld nt fulfill their missin t be light in the wrld, then they frfeit their place as a church 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 6 f 13 This is a sbering thught we shuldn t run past t quickly Jesus says that putting ur faith and ur knwledge f dctrine int actin is s imprtant t Him, that if we fail in that missin, we n lnger have reasn t exist as a church James famusly says that faith withut wrks is dead, is useless, because it exists by itself (James 2:17) In ther wrds, the Lrd never intended fr ur faith t exist by itself Faith was always intended t lead t actin We shuld ask what distracted the church in Ephesus away frm the deeds they did at first? False teaching is ften the cause fr a church wandering, but we knw it wasn t false teaching in the case f Ephesus Jesus praised them fr their adherence t sund dctrine N, in this case it must have been smething else The mst likely cause was the culture f Ephesus itself Ephesus was a very wealth, very exciting metrplis, but it was als very crrupting place t d ministry It was the capital city f the Rman prvince f Asia Minr, famus fr its temple t the gdless Diana and fr its Rman stadium The temple drew wrshippers frm arund the empire and featured thusands f prstitutes wh accmmdated wrshippers in pagan ceremnies The city s stadium was the largest f its kind in the wrld, seating 50,000 peple fr gladiatrs games And the city was alive with cmmerce and fd and drink, fueled histrically by its majr prt, but als by trade, banking and temple visitrs In shrt, Ephesus was a happening place 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 7 f 13 S if yu wanted t chase the wrld s riches r perhaps btain a name fr yurself r pwer in an earthly institutin, Ephesus was a gd place t d it And it seemed the church in Ephesus began ding just that Histry recrds that Jesus did, in fact, fllw thrugh n his warning t remve the church s lampstand He withdrew His hand f blessing causing the church t disappear By the secnd century, the city was in decline, the prt having silted up ver the years, and the church having died ut Eventually, the city itself became a ruin This sad utcme is even mre surprising when yu remember the church s august beginnings Nt nly did Paul and ther apstles live and teach in the city fr several years But Paul made special effrt t meet with the church elders and exhrt them cncerning this very threat while n his way t Jerusalem fr the final time Listen t Paul s wrds f advice t the church leadership Acts 20:17 Frm Miletus he sent t Ephesus and called t him the elders f the church. Acts 20:18 And when they had cme t him, he said t them, Yu yurselves knw, frm the first day that I set ft in Asia, hw I was with yu the whle time, Acts 20:19 serving the Lrd with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upn me thrugh the plts f the Jews; Acts 20:20 hw I did nt shrink frm declaring t yu anything that was prfitable, and teaching yu publicly and frm huse t huse, Acts 20:21 slemnly testifying t bth Jews and Greeks f repentance tward Gd and faith in ur Lrd Jesus Christ. Acts 20:22 And nw, behld, bund by the Spirit, I am n my way t Jerusalem, nt knwing what will happen t me there, Acts 20:23 except that the Hly Spirit slemnly testifies t me in every city, saying that bnds and afflictins await me. Acts 20:24 But I d nt cnsider my life f any accunt as dear t myself, s that I may finish my curse and the ministry which I received frm the Lrd Jesus, t testify slemnly f the gspel f the grace f Gd. 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 8 f 13 Acts 20:25 And nw, behld, I knw that all f yu, amng whm I went abut preaching the kingdm, will n lnger see my face. Acts 20:26 Therefre, I testify t yu this day that I am inncent f the bld f all men. Acts 20:27 Fr I did nt shrink frm declaring t yu the whle purpse f Gd. Acts 20:28 Be n guard fr yurselves and fr all the flck, amng which the Hly Spirit has made yu verseers, t shepherd the church f Gd which He purchased with His wn bld. Acts 20:29 I knw that after my departure savage wlves will cme in amng yu, nt sparing the flck; Acts 20:30 and frm amng yur wn selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, t draw away the disciples after them. Acts 20:31 Therefre be n the alert, remembering that night and day fr a perid f three years I did nt cease t admnish each ne with tears. Acts 20:32 And nw I cmmend yu t Gd and t the wrd f His grace, which is able t build yu up and t give yu the inheritance amng all thse wh are sanctified. Acts 20:33 I have cveted n ne s silver r gld r clthes. Acts 20:34 Yu yurselves knw that these hands ministered t my wn needs and t the men wh were with me. Acts 20:35 In everything I shwed yu that by wrking hard in this manner yu must help the weak and remember the wrds f the Lrd Jesus, that He Himself said, It is mre blessed t give than t receive. Acts 20:36 When he had said these things, he knelt dwn and prayed with them all. These were Paul s parting wrds t the elders at Ephesus Fr ur purpses this mrning, I want us t fcus n the last part f that passage Paul ends his cmments by asking the leaders t remember Paul s example as he lived amng them fr several years Specifically, he says in Acts 20:31 that he admnished them day and night with tears while he lived in Ephesus Paul speaks like a man wh was burdened by what he experienced in Ephesus and he dearly wanted better things fr the church What burdened Paul? We get a clue by what Paul says next in v.32 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 9 f 13 Paul cmmends them t the wrd f Gd, which he says can build them up and deliver an inheritance t the sanctified Paul s mentin f an inheritance is key here, because it turns ut that the church s key weakness was pursuit f riches in all frms As I said, this was a wealthy city, a city that nt nly pssessed great wealth but als inspired its citizens t seek fr mre it We all knw this feeling t sme extent, the feeling that we wish we culd have what thers arund us pssess It s human nature t see wealth n display and t cvet fr it If we are dishnest, then we will seek t btain it in illegitimate ways But even if we are upright and hnest, we may still becme distracted wrking fr it at the expense f serving Gd Next, Paul exhrts the church t remember his example while he lived amng them In v.33 Paul says remember that he cveted n ne s silver and gld Paul was nt defending himself against accusatins that he was a thief He was pinting ut by way f example that he never set his sights n btaining the wealthy f Ephesus He didn t desire their silver and gld, it didn t distract him and he didn t wrk t btain it frm them Instead, Paul says he wrked t supprt his basic needs, enugh t ensure he wasn t a burden n thers, but that s where it ended Paul says in v.35 that he did this s that he had time remaining t wrk n mre imprtant matters, n spiritual cncerns Specifically, he says wrked t help the weak in the church Paul meant he spent time wrking t assist the pr financially, perhaps thse t sick r ld t wrk themselves But I think Paul als meant he invested time in the spiritual needs f the church, teaching and praying and encuraging 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 10 f 13 These things Paul tld the church t remember, as a mdel fr their wn behavir, because back in v.32 he tld them they had an eternal inheritance Paul is talking abut riches in Heaven, riches awaiting thse wh are sanctified, Paul said in v.32 Which explains his cncluding cmment in v.35 where Paul says it is mre blessed t give than receive When we give (e.g., time, talent, treasure) t the needs f the bdy, we are investing in ur wn spiritual future We are serving Christ sacrificially, and by ding s we are string up treasure in Heaven, as Jesus said Our giving will be blessed later in Heaven, and the result will be far greater riches than anything we culd have btained here On the ther hand, when we structure ur earthly lives t receive, that is t receive wealth r spend time n urselves r gain attentin fr urselves instead f fr Christ, we may be frging heavenly things Certainly, we can say we are blessed by what we btain here A rich man n earth is blessed A man wh received great pwer r hnr n earth might say he s blessed But thse blessings are always less than the heavenly ne reserved fr thse wh serve Christ Paul said he made sacrifices t mdel what serving Christ lks like t a church that lived in a rich city with many distractins And as Paul lived amng them, he was burdened by the sight f their struggles with temptatin And he must have pleaded them with tears t nt get caught up in chasing the wrld Paul maintained his first lve and he admnished the church in Ephesus t d the same T seek fr the inheritance fund by hearing and ding the wrd f Gd And nt t cvet the gld and silver that will perish 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 11 f 13 S yu might be asking hw this backgrund relates t ur study f the bk f Ephesians? First, it s clear that Paul and Jesus had cncerns fr this church In Paul s final instructins in Acts, he was cncerned the church might succumb t the temptatins f the city t serve self instead f Christ And just a few decades later, we hear Jesus telling this church they did, indeed, leave the highest pririty, which suggests they went after ther things Secndly, it s safe t say Ephesus was a church whse affectins were divided On the ne hand, they knew and respected the dctrines f their faith On the ther hand, they desired the wealth and prminence their city ffered t thse willing t chase after it The Church had knwn a perid f success, early in their walk, when their faith prmpted a lve fr serving Gd and His peple They served the missin f the church, setting aside the pursuit f earthly things and setting their eyes n Jesus and His cncerns But eventually, they fell t the temptatins f earthly things, they left their first lve and they lst their way and eventually their place This is hw the stry f Ephesus ended It s an unhappy ending But it didn t have t be this way The circumstances surrunding the Church f Ephesus have much in cmmn with the Church tday in many places in the wrld We are blessed t be living in the wealthiest time in all human histry Mst develped natins enjy a standard f living far beynd what was pssible in past generatins 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 12 f 13 While we still have places f pverty and war and disease, in general thse things impact less peple t a lessr degree than in times past In many places tday the church is surrunded by a culture f materialistic, attentin hgging, pwer grabbing, experiencing seeking pagans Just like the church in Ephesus S the questin arises, are we in danger f leaving ur first lve? Are we all dctrine and n actin? D we guard the teaching yet allw ur hearts t be tempted by the wrld arund us? D we acknwledge we have been apprved by Gd thrugh ur faith in Christ yet still cvet the praises f men? Are we all hat and n cattle, as the phrase ges? I d like t suggest that the stry f Ephesus we studied this mrning is like the Ghst f Christmas Future frm Dickens Christmas Carl It s a stry f hw ne Church ended, and it culd be the stry f hw ther churches will g t...but it desn t have t be ur stry We may live in a similar materialistic, pagan culture as the church in Ephesus did But we dn t have t succumb t the same temptatins Because we have Paul s letter written t Ephesus Paul s letter is ne f the ntable irnies f the New Testament He wrte the letter precisely t encurage the church nt t fall t the very temptatins that eventually did them in Having lived amng them fr years, he knew the culture well And naturally he wrried fr the church s future, as we heard in his parting cmments in Acts S Paul wrte a letter that is 50% dctrine, 50% exhrtatin hping t prevent the church s dwnfall 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Ephesians 1A 13 f 13 He will explain the true riches that accmpany salvatin and sanctificatin fr every believer S that the church might have reasn t set aside their desires fr Ephesus t pursue Christ instead And he calls fr the church t live a sanctified life, ne that witnesses t Christ in a daily way Histry recrds that the. church didn t heed the instructin they received They may have guarded the letter, they may even have understd it But they certainly didn t put it int actin Their faith std by itself, being useless, dead And ultimately that became the fate f the church itself That desn t have t be ur future, if nly we wrd hear the wrd f Gd and d it Starting next week, we dive int Paul s letter seeking t hear it and d it... 2016 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.